Vengeance is Best Served Cold
by ilikehats2
Summary: When Loki escapes undetected from Asgard to Earth, he takes advantage of it. And with two avengers strung up as his puppets, Loki's revenge is at hand. Can the Avengers stop Loki again? Will they figure out who's under Loki's mind control this time?
1. The Escape

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about five times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

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Chapter One: The Escape

Midgard was truly a fools realm, Loki couldn't help but shake his head at the foolish humans. Such simply creatures, roaming the world with the hysterical idea that they could be protected by five mere mortals and his oaf of a brother. Where were their precious Avengers now? With the whole world practically falling apart at the seams, the heroes were no where to be seen. Sure there was the soldier in blue along with a new ally to join him and Agent Romanov, but even then the Avengers were not officially fighting Hydra as a team.

Hydra, had Loki known they were going to cause such chaos on Midgard, he would have waited. The son of Laufey would have bought his time patiently, the entire war could have been avoided. While it was risky, Thor would surely ensure the completion of the Bifröst wouldn't be delayed, his death amongst the Asgardians would make his return all the more triumphant and heroic. Loki couldn't help but explore this idea, explore this possibility had he known Hydra would become such a threat. Loki could have avoided the war, the entire invasion if he knew, he could have arrived on Midgard, right when the planet was in a state of desperate panic, and annihilated the delusional humans. One does not necessarily need to cut off the heads, for fire would work just as well, and lead to a more successfu kill.

But Loki wasn't going to dwell on it, he had to focus and wait. He didn't spend months, feigning his inability to escape his cell in Asgard, just to meditate in peace and observe Midgard from afar. He had plans, dark plans to eliminate the Avengers. His divide and conquer technique may have failed but Loki was not the Frost Giant to have a one track mind and have only one idea. No, Loki had plans to get his vengeance, and it would be slow and merciless.

Loki briefly closed his eyes, expanding his own mind to view Asgard. Viewing Asgard was a lot harder than it was to observe Midgard, but there he saw Thor speaking with the All-Father, just in the beginning of ending their conversation. Loki had been observing Thor cautiously, waiting for his brother to take advantage to the Bifröst so he could escape to Midgard with him, undetected. S.H.I.E.L.D. would notice Thor's arrival but finally, Thor's shadow proved to be beneficial for him, for no one would notice him when going to greet and welcome the son of Odin.

The frost giant stood, walking to his door with footsteps that rivaled the hush of a mouse. He didn't have a lot of time, Loki could see Thor retreating from the All Father's throne room, making his way to cross the magnificent city. He placed his hand on the small doorknob, ice softly crackling as it expanded over it, taking refuge inside the lock itself, coating the tumblers. Loki had grown stronger in his exile, not just in magic but with his innate abilities as a Jotun. Loki smirked and suddenly twisted the nod quickly, with inhuman speed that snapped the lock in two.

The door slid open smoothly and Loki stepped out into the hallway, glancing left and right before he proceeded down the hall. Loki walked briskly, glancing now and then at the cells he passed, a hand stretching out and freezing the locks similarly to his own. Whenever Loki was acquainted with a guard, he would shoot his hand out, and freeze them into a statue before he continued onward towards where his staff was hidden.

Loki found his staff amongst the possessions of his fellow prisoners, resting across the hall. He strode over to it, gripping it in his hand and stared at the blue glow. It seemed to brighten once it was in his hands covering the right side of his face in a blue glow. His features twisted into a smirk as he closed his eyes, watching his adopted brother as he approached Heimdall, standing in the new Bifröst. His eyes stared at the blue gem embedded in his staff, his smirk turning more confident as his plan became so much closer to becoming a reality. And part of that plan involved two very deadly and lethal people, people he was ecstatic to turn into his personal flying monkeys.

With a sense of victory and adrenaline filling him, Loki closed his eyes and disappeared into one of his many secret passageways to Midgard, giddy at the idea that his revenge would soon be upon him.

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**Yes, this is chapter one. Not much action, mostly Loki's private intentions. If anyone is confused, Loki expanding his mind is the same thing he sort of did in the movie. Remember when he was on Earth but telepathically conversing with the Chitari, it was like that, but he was observing over Earth and Asgard. That's how he knows all of this, because I mean, Asgards pretty isolated and unaware of this. **

**And the freezing thing, why didn't Loki do that in the Avengers? Literally, he could have killed Tony by freezing him. Then they all would have died because of the nuke except maybe those people in the basements and subways *shrugs*. I had to incorporate the frost giant thing.**

**Loki's thoughts on Hydra are my thoughts on Hydra sort of. Seriously, if he had waited, he could have swooped in and been the righteous hero! Literally, he could have lied and said exile had changed him for the better and he had expected to accompany Thor and whatnot... Then take over the planet. He so didn't need the Chitari. Please review, please guess who the "puppets" will be. Also, if someone's got a better title name, I'm willing to listen to it. **

**Also, for any of you who read my OC story on here, Hail Hydra: An Unwanted Destiny, I finally say Captain America: The First Avenger. The Red Skull could be alive, he could be! What, it's a portal to the other side of the galaxy... But- I don't know... It sort of lost it's possibility. Does that make sense? Would it be tragic if I deleted it? What's the public opinion on that?**


	2. Compromised

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about five times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

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Chapter Two: Compromised

Clint stared at the endless amount of trees, the sky completely hidden by the extending branches. The sunlight that did filter through to the very bottom cast an almost heavenly light, but at the same time emphasized the green all around them. He huffed impatiently, while his partner continued to stare straight ahead at the dirt road. Clint slouched against the seat, eyes narrowed in disdain as he stared out the window again. Of all the places things they could be doing, they had to be on a mission instead of at the Tower, where their fellow Avengers were enjoying movie night.

"Quit the pouting Barton," The red head snapped at him, "Eyes on the prize."

Clint rolled his eyes, sharply exhaling through his nose. Hill had called the two of them in, Coulson needed them to take out the German Federal Minister of the Interior, due to his strong ties and alliance with Hydra. It was dangerous enough having Hydra in any political position, having a member of Hydra responsible for the internal security of a country was worse. However, Coulson wanted to make sure the assassination was as untraceable to S.H.I.E.L.D. as possible, which is why he called in Strike Team Delta. But Clint would rather be at the tower, partaking in their bi-weekly movie night. They weren't his favorite thing to do on a Friday night, but he did enjoy seeing how stupidly drunk Tony could get and some of the movies were really good. He would prefer to be at the tower instead of having lied to them about where he was, about Coulson. Only Natasha and Clint knew that Coulson was alive, and they had to swear not to tell anyone especially the Avengers.

Natasha wasn't as upset as Clint, she was perfectly unaffected by the mission. She personally hated the movie nights; she couldn't stand the forced social event that was trying to bond the team closer together or keep them together, and she just hated the movie. So she was near Freiburg, driving in the Black Forest to go assassinate a man at his country home in the woods, missing Stark playing Avatar. She'd live, it wasn't the end of the world, especially when they had _prevented_ the end of the world.

"I just don't understand why we have to do it," Clint complained.

"Because Clint, S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't exactly popular, Coulson can't be linked to the murder. And we're the best people for the job."

Clint huffed, watching Natasha as she slowed the car, turning the car onto a side path. Clint stared at it, it was roughly cut into the main path, mostly done by tire tracks. If was narrow too, which meant branches would be scraping against the car door and whacking them in the face if the windows were open. The hidden back road to the cottage.

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Clint stared up at the cottage through the branches, his quiver resting comfortably between his shoulder blades. They had parked the car a half mile away and walked the entire way here, currently scoping out the cottage.

It was a beautiful one, with white exterior walls that Clint suspected were recently painted. The exterior walls also gave them a view of the dark brown wooden support beams, whether they were functional or decorative Natasha and Clint didn't know, but they created a variety of rectangles and triangles. The building was about the size of two normal cottages, side by side, with about three chimneys sprouting from the roof. The roof, the roof was something that Clint couldn't quite fathom. The roof looked like it was made of hay with the consistency of something equivalent to yak fur, but Clint knew differently.

"Come on," Natasha whispered, her eyes flicking to take in every detail of the building. She was on her feet, darting quickly towards one of the two back doors, Clint at her heels with his bow and arrow ready. This wasn't the first time they done something like this, and they learned a long time ago that people weren't afraid to shoot at intruders from the window.

Natasha frowns, glancing left and right before she gently tested the small doorknob. The two assassins shared a look when they learned it wasn't lock, both highly suspicious and on edge now. Not only was the door _unlocked_ but there wasn't any sort of security patrolling the cottage perimeter. It couldn't possibly be this easy for them, could it?

Natasha quietly pushed the heavy mahogany door open, Clint entering first and scoping out the kitchen. Seeing no threat Clint motioned Natasha in, to which she quietly closed the door and pulled out her gun. It was unnaturally quiet, which only set them more on edge.

"I got down here, you check upstairs," Natasha whispered, her hand moving to her right ear to no doubt turn on her ear piece. The only way they'd be able to communicate with each other through the house would be through those. Clint nodded, moving to turn his on as well as he disappeared stealthily down a hall.

Natasha didn't like this, not at all. It was too suspiciously quiet, they had yet to come across a single person. Natasha moved stealthily along the hardwood floor, working very hard to avoid stepping on the board that creaked. It was a beautiful cottage, the walls were painted a very dark cranberry red with a white boarder.

As Natasha finished poking her head into the third room downstairs, she heard a soft crackling over her ear piece, before Clint's voice broke the uncomfortable silence, _"Is it me, or is this place just screaming trap?"_

"I take it you didn't find anything either," She whispered, staring at the coffee table. She scowled, tilting her head to see the shattered remains of a mug spilled out across the carpet. Had someone already beaten them here?

_"Still looking, I'll keep you posted."_

"Gotcha," Natasha suddenly tensed, hearing a creak in the floorboards. At first she thought it was Clint upstairs, but her well trained ears and instincts told her it was coming from the nearby room. Natasha turned, holding her gun tightly as she backed away into the hallway and turned towards where the sound had come from. It was one of the last rooms she hadn't checked yet, and she gently chewed her lip when she saw it hanging slightly open. Taking one deep breath, Natasha shoved the door open, watching it swing as she stepped into the doorway.

Natasha quietly entered the room, the green walls covered by towering bookshelves. Sitting in the center of the room on the rug and carpet were three lounge chairs, with varying degrees of use. Natasha slowly made her way to the center of the room, looking around. There wasn't a single person here, and just as Natasha Romanov let her guard down, for just a moment, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees and a low chuckle filled the room. A low, familiar chuckle that drove a bloodcurdling chill right through her spine.

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Clint scowled poking his head in through the third bedroom, seeing nothing unusual. There wasn't a sign of anyone even stepping into the room in the past twelve hours, much less someone actually hiding in there. Clint was beginning to hate this mission more and more, how the hell was there not even one security guard? Closing the bedroom door, Clint placed two fingers to his ear to talk to Natasha.

"Is it me, or is this place just screaming trap?"

_"I take it you didn't fine anything either,"_ Her voice was very soft, clearly Natasha wasn't having any better luck. Clint had a very bad feeling, his chest was getting tight with the anxiety of it. He didn't want this to get any messier than it should, especially when the two of them had split up to cover more ground.

Clint finally found his voice again as he scanned the rest of upstairs, trying to figure out where he hadn't searched yet, "Still looking, I'll keep you posted."

_"Gotcha,"_ Natasha's response made him feel a bit better but didn't do anything to stop the tight anxiety that was threatening to choke his senses. Clint moved around the corner, his soft footsteps muffled even more by the carpet.

Clint froze, eyes targeting one white door. Clint stared at it, the door looked perfectly fine, but the carpet surrounding the bottom of it was tinged a rusty red. Clint recognized the sight of dried blood anywhere, pulling out his hand gun as he quietly approached the door. Clint forced the door open, but the sight before him caused the gun in his hand to go slack.

The Federal Minister of the Interior sat, legs hanging over the side, in the bathtub staring at Clint with wide dead eyes. A slack expression of fear was left frozen on their face, their skin already a pale, greyish dead complexion. There was a trail of blood, going from the door to the tub, and the minister had a large splotch of red across their chest. Clint hesitantly walked over, examining the injury cautiously.

The color drained from his face, he recognized the injury. He only saw this once before, but he wouldn't ever forget the rip of the fabric that only one curled spearhead could have caused. No-_he_ couldn't be here, he was suppose to be on Asgard for fucks sake. Clint backed away, hand going to his ear.

"Widow-"

Clint scowled hearing a mixture of static, groans, and thuds. He scowled, briefly hearing Natasha's voice amongst it, _"ястреб выйти сейчас . Получить на автомобиль"_

The car? What was happening down there? Clint scowled, there was no way he was leaving her. He turned, abandoning the bathroom and it's dead occupant, leaping over the railing to the floor below. It wasn't a far fall, it was one that Clint was use to making several times. It was loud, yes, but it was faster and Natasha might not have a few minutes. The static that suddenly came from his ear piece, a sign that Natasha's was no longer working, only strengthened that fear.

Clint's heart was racing, he wasn't leaving Natasha especially if that son of a bitch was really back. The archer threw stealth out the window as he moved through the hallway, fear slowly mixing with the adrenaline coursing through him. Clint glanced around, having no idea where she was. However, before he had the chance to shout out for her and possibly draw attention to himself, he heard the soft sound of a thud against the ground.

His head turned towards the door, in five quick strides he was at it, an arrow notched at the ready when he kicked the door in.

He froze, staring at Natasha with wide eyes. While a book case laid partially shattered, and books scattered dangerously across the carpet, Natasha was pinned up to the wall by...ice? Ice covered practically everything except her chest and head, she stood like she was frozen in the middle of making a snow angle with the way her legs were spread apart and the way her arms were pinned above her head. She had a split lip, a dabble of blood running down her chin and a stubborn yet shocked look in her green eyes.

"Hawkeye-" She hissed softly, looking at him with one of her famous 'you stubborn bastard' looks. When he crossed the threshold, lowering his fully armed bow, her glare turned insistent, "Barton get out."

"I'm not leaving you here," Clint was interrupted by the door shutting, and he turned, seeing Loki standing there with a sick smirk twisted on his face. Barton's suspicions were unfortunately confirmed.

"Hello again Agent Barton, it's been far too long."

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**Long Chapter. Very long chapter. I'm sorry. I know, everyone wants to know about the fight between Loki and Natasha but that's not exactly the point. The point is that Loki is targeting the ASSASSINS! The Assassins people! An answer as to why will be revealed in Chapter three, though that may be shorter. Sorry, please review. I want opinions! I want to know what you readers think.**

**Also please respond to both chapters if possible. If it isn't I understand but I'd appreciate. I could use dome positive reviews, this has had 60 views yet no one commented!**


	3. Puppets

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about five times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

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Chapter Three: Puppets

Clint raised his bow, the string taunt and ready with an arrow placed in the perfect position to take out the demigod's eye. Loki stood, his entire body stood in front of the closed door. He leaned gently back on his scepter, the blade was coated in dried blood mostly along the tip and edge. In the demigods other hand was a small black device Clint recognized as Natasha's ear piece, held securely between his pointer finger and thumb. He stared at Clint, his composure loose and relaxed with a devious smirk contorting his features. It seemed like Loki was taking pleasure out of an inside joke only he knew of, which only infuriated Clint more. But the archer took some pleasure in the nasty bruise already forming along the right of his jaw, clearly Natasha put up a fight.

Loki stared at Agent Barton, taking pleasure in seeing him so tense and wired. It was clear that his presence deeply disturbed the assassins, whether they acknowledged it or not. Loki took a step forward, gently kicking a scattered book out of his path, his eyes falling onto the small black trinket in his hands, "Such peculiar and advanced ways of communication..." Then, without even using all of his superhuman strength, he crushed the device between his fingers as if it was a grape, "But so fragile."

When Barton continued to stare coldly at him, slightly adjusting the arrow to follow his movements, Loki just sighed, "Not even a hello? Or a slight bow? That's not the proper way to treat a king Agent Barton, especially your king."

"You're no ones king," Clint's voice was strict, emotionless as his eyes glared darkly at Loki. But Loki saw the anger behind them, the outrage, and he knew he struck the right nerves.

"Aren't I?" Loki asked, his voice light and almost breathy. Loki stepped closer, his eyes flicking to the arrow very close to entering his eye socket, "Think about it Agent Barton, really think about it."

Clint glared as he refused to answer Loki and just focused on the arrow but Loki could see the resolve slowly crumple, soften at the blow of his words. Loki continued with his words, taking small steps closer to Agent Barton so as to not give him a reason to launch the arrow into his eye.

"You have many a reason to shoot me," Loki spoke, "But you haven't, why do you think that is?"

Clint blinked, and some tension hesitantly left his shoulders. His bow and arrow weren't held as rigidly, allowing Loki to gently push them aside without any resistance. He took advantage of Clint's situation, watching as the archer succumbed to Loki's trick. Clint's mind whirled, struggling with the concept of what Loki was "doing", filled with questions. Did Loki still have a lingering control over his mind? Was Loki really his king?

"Clint don't listen to him," Natasha spoke up, pulling him back to the present. The archers eyes widened then narrowed when he saw how close Loki was to him, his bow lowered nearly non threateningly at his side.

Loki turned his attention to Natasha, eyes glaring coldly at her, "Silence quim," He ordered, a tone as powerful as Fury's but darker and eviler. With his eyes on the red head, Barton readjusted the arrow and pulled the string back. An arrow buried itself in Loki's side, sticking out between the golden plates of his armor.

At the first notice of pain, his eyes narrowed dangerously and turned to the archer with a snarl. What little distance there was between them disappeared in a matter of seconds, leaving Natasha to witness the fight that was unfolding.

In a brief moment of anger Loki set his eyes on Clint, the archer suddenly knocked into the right wall with a smack that could only be topped if Thor had done it instead. The sound of Clint's head hitting the wall eerily echoed for a short second, his knees buckled a bit from the impact and his bow laid forgotten on the floor. Clint turned his head, slowly straightening himself as Loki slowly advanced towards him, the bloody arrow having been snapped and in ruins on the floor. Loki's hands, Clint noticed, looked blueish and a thin trail of cold condensation trailing behind him, disappearing almost immediately. As the deranged demigod shot his hand out, Clint pushed himself off the wall, making room for a splotch of ice to crackle and form on the wall. Loki turned, glaring at the archer while Clint tried to evaluate his next move. It was obvious what he needed, his bow, but Loki knew this as well. That was probably what Loki was hoping for.

But, Clint had a few others tricks up his sleeves other than arrows and a bow. As Clint dove out of the way from another attempt of freezing him in place, the action itself reminding him eerily of Frozen, he stuck his hand into his pocket. His hand closed around a tiny little dart, about the same size as a playing dart, but filled with a nerve numbing, paralyzing agent. The archer turned his eyes on Loki, his gaze had only left him for a few moments, when he threw the dart at the frost giant. The dart pierced a vulnerable area in Loki's outfit, and made it's way into his leg. With a confident smirk, Clint watched as the man in Asgardian gold, black, and green stumble, needing to use his staff as a walking stick now. It was funny, watching Loki struggling to stand on one appendage until his entire right leg just gave out and sent him sprawling onto the floor.

The moment he was down, Clint ran over. He took the long way, securing his now once again in his grip and stood cautiously around Loki, away from the reach of his scepter. Clint notched an arrow, prepared for some petty vengeance by shooting Loki in the eye. However, as Loki turned to face him, Hawk-Eye shot the arrow yet that wasn't the problem. When the arrow made contact with Loki's eye, the demigod himself disappeared in an image of gold glittered. At the same time, he heard Natasha give off a strangled, alarming cry.

Clint turned, paralyzed for a few seconds due to the cold fear and utter idiocy he felt coursing through him like ice water. Loki stood in front of Natasha, the blade of his scepter resting almost comfortably against the pale skin of her neck with the dried blood looking brighter. Loki however was standing with his complete attention towards Clint, ignoring the red head as he gently held the scepter, the edge down and allowing the smooth cold metal to press against her throat. It forced Natasha to let out another strangled, uncomfortable protest. She felt like she couldn't breath when she could, and the mental betrayal about her physical health and situation made Natasha curse herself silently. Her cries stirred anger in Clint but before he could even move, Loki was one step ahead.

Loki smirked, staring at the archer as he brought an arm back for an arrow, only for the frost giant to bring his hand out. Clint blinked, unable to process the blueish white light coming from Loki's palm and how he was suddenly frozen to the floor. The ice spread out around him on the floor for about an inch, almost fusing his feet to the floor. It completely paralyzed his legs and branched out from his waist, restricting his hips, up through the air and capturing his arms. His left arm was frozen so it was half bent backwards, trapped in the middle of getting an arrow while his right arm was poised straight out, frozen in the middle of holding his bow out. He no doubt looked stupid, but he highly doubted that _that_ was their primary concern.

Loki chuckled, taking the scepter away from Natasha's throat. He looked at Clint with a smirk, twirling it in his hands. Clint glared at Loki while the god approached him, "I do apologize Agents Barton and Romanov for restraining you, but I'm afraid that it was the only way to get this done without nearly killing you."

"The only way? For what?" Natasha, though glaring at the back of Loki's ridiculous helmet, couldn't help be curious. She wanted to know why they weren't dead yet, why he had just admitted to not planning on murdering them yet. After all, wasn't this the best opportunity? What more could he want? He wasn't seriously going to try and get an audience was he?

Loki turned to look at Natasha, "What do you think Agent Romanov?" Natasha's face turned emotionless as did Clint's. They knew this was for revenge, but they expected more from Loki. But Loki smirked at their expressions, "However, I've realized something in my isolation. You and Agent Barton, you're the two people I need to weasel information out of your targets and use it against them. It is what your nest at is it not? And my plan requires the very best spies in order to destroy those pesky Avengers."

"If that's your way into sweet talking us into working with you then you can forget it," Clint glared, indignation filling his voice. Loki had the idiotic guts to actually ask them this? To betray their friends? Clint would rather drink from a toilet or anything else other than that.

"I'm not asking Agent Barton, I'm telling," Loki spun and took the scepter, making a jab for Natasha.

Everything seemed to slow down for Clint, watching as the scepter seemed to slow at the last minute, resting against her chest. For a split second, both men could see the shock and indescribable fear filling the green of her eyes before they turned black altogther. His breath hitched, was that what happened to him when Loki took over his mind? Loki smirked, taking a quiet pleasure from the fear he caused Natasha and the emotional pain he was inflicting on Clint. Natasha's once stiff body relaxed and loosened under the ice, her eyes refocusing in a new otherworldly blue.

Clint stared, in disbelieve as he heard Natasha roll off a few words in Russian, though too soft for him to know exactly what it was she said. But, as she focused her gaze right at Loki, Clint knew he lost her to the same torture he'd been through during the Battle of New York, the same torture she'd face long before him. Loki turned, looking at Clint now as he walked over to the archer, holding his scepter up for him to see.

"Do not fear Agent Barton, I can assure you that this will be as quick and painless as the first time," Loki taunted, bringing the scepter up to his chest now and tapping it just against his heart. The last thing Clint saw before his vision went dark was Natasha staring at him, with those unnatural and haunting blue eyes.

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**Happy Pi Day! :D I am so sorry I took a while, hopefully the length will make up for it. I've even dying to write that ending for forever! And trust me, if I didn't have a free day this morning and my birthday tomorrow, I would have probably waited a bit. Also, happy early St. Patricks Day! **

**Also, please review! I gotta know what you think of this chapter. And as for Agents of SHIELD, it feels like we just found out Ward is hydra all over again! It hurts! Ugh... But I hope you really like this chapter. Please review! **


	4. The Tower

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about six times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

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Chapter Four: The Tower

Tony groaned softly from one of the couches, turning his back from the window and trying to block the sunlight out. When that failed, the genius extended an arm out and began groping around for a pillow. A few moments later after finding one, he held it over his head to block out the sunlight and restore darkness.

Tony exhaled in relief, slightly readjusting himself on the couch cushions. In his exhaustion Tony vaguely recognized a hangover induced headache buzzing about in his cranium. But he was too tired and too apathetic about it at the moment to go searching for Advil when he could just sleep a few more hours. A small smile tugged at the corner of his face.

"RELEASE THE TART OF POPS VILE MIDGARDIAN METAL MONSTER!" Thor's booming voice broke the silence, the pain suddenly spiking in Tony's head and jerking him from his drowsiness.

The billionaire groaned, slipping from the couch to his feet and stumbled to the kitchen. He glared at the god, hunched over as he approached the island and took a seat at one of the stool chairs. Tony glared at Thor in agitation, his entire upper body hunching over onto the cool granite counter, watching as Thor shook the toaster like he was strangling it.

"Easy Point Break!" Tony scolded, seeing the metal of the toaster starting to dent and the appliance end up as crushed metal in his strong grip.

Thor turned, regarding his disheveled friend silently, and held up the toaster that had his precious poptart trapped. Tony held his hand out to take it, which Thor reluctantly handed over, and started to fiddle with it. Thor watched his friend as Tony jiggled the handle, tilting the device upside down. By doing this the half cooked poptart fell onto the counter, and Tony gave an exasperated sigh as he looked into it.

"Stupid piece of shit," Tony grumbled, "Can't get a decent toaster these days."

Frustrated, the hung over genius threw it angrily across the room. As it hit the wall, the sound of the impact making Tony wince, Steve chose that moment to walk in. He jumped back, the blonde staring at the now very damaged toaster that had hit the wall to his right.

"What was that-"

"SHHHH!" Tony loudly interrupted, rubbing his temples, "Everyone just shut up for the next twelve to twenty four hours!"

Steve simply rolled his eyes, moving to the fridge and pulling out a carton of eggs. He was not amused with Tony's dramatic behavior with his hangover, he was being far too over dramatic for his tastes. Then again, Steve had no way of really getting hungover so he wouldn't quite know what dramatics were appropriate.

As Steve turned the stove on and began to butter a pan he thought of the previous night. He remembered a majority of the night was filled with Tony drinking and complaining about the assassins ditching them for some stupid "crap", watching the Avatar movie, Tony's vulgarity getting worse throughout the night as he continued to drink until he just passed out. A majority of his memories consisted of Tony's complaining and drinking then the movie itself once again. However, if Steve didn't look out for the billionaire then he would have attempted to steal Romanov's secret stash of vodka in her room and either be dead or be facing it when she returned.

Steve looked at Thor, cracking the eggs into the pan as he spoke, "Want some eggs Thor?"

"Aiy," Thor nodded, only for Tony to groan angrily at them for disturbing the silence. Steve sighed, reaching into the cabinet and tossed the annoying man some Advil behind his back. He heard them hit the counter and focused on the eggs, wondering if Bruce would like some breakfast. He hadn't seen the scientist since last night, where he admitted that he was working on an exciting project. Most likely Bruce was working on that project and Steve didn't want to interrupt his work. Odin knows how much of Bruce's time Tony has wasted with his own nefarious schemes.

Steve focused on the pan, cooking the eggs sunny side up. The captain glanced at Thor as the Asgardian contributed and got the soldier some plates, thankful for his assistance. Steve made four eggs for the Asgardian, piling them onto a plate as well as an egg for himself and Tony. As he passed, he slid Tony his breakfast and ignored his grumbling complaint for black coffee instead, heading to the living room to watch the morning news with Thor trailing behind him. Steve took a seat, placing on the news and started to eat his egg with Thor taking a seat besides him.

Leaning back, Steve watched as an image of a man appeared on the right hand corner. He tilted his head, turning up the volume as he read the headline: GERMAN MINISTER OF INTERIOR MURDERED.

_"Officials have confirmed early this morning that German Minister of Interior, Truman Herschel, was found dead in the upstairs bathroom of his cottage. Officials received a mysterious call where an unknown caller muttered a disturbing message before hanging up. Upon tracking the call to the minister's cottage they saw that the back door was open, empty except for the dead minister in the bathtub and all members of his security team found dead in the attic. The most disturbing part of the whole ordeal? German officials reluctantly revealed that the message was two only two words-_

Steve leaned forward, his little curiosity getting the better of him.

_\- Hail Hydra." _

Steve stared at the screen, his face hardening and draining of color. His lips were pressed into a thin line, eyes narrowing at the screen. Thor glanced concerned at his friend, unsure what to say though. Luckily for Thor he wasn't subjugated to make any failed attempts at comforting his friend because the elevator door sounded. Even Steve turned to see who was coming up, suddenly feeling guilty that he didn't make enough eggs in preparation and distracted briefly by the anger fueled emotions coursing through him.

Natasha and Clint stepped off the elevator in synchronization, Clint's eyes immediately turning to the plate of eggs his friends both had. The archers face lit up when he saw he hadn't missed breakfast, more specifically Steve's cooking. Natasha simply gave a nod of greeting to the two men, stuffing her hands into her jean pockets.

"What's up Cap," Clint dropped the duffle bag he was carrying, leaping over the back of the couch and taking a seat beside him, "What'cha watching?"

"The World News," Steve's voice sort of trailed off, blinking out of this disturbed stupor to focus on his friends, "How was your trip?"

"Went well," Clint says, Natasha nodding. Natasha glanced at the tv, then at Steve, "Give us a few minutes to change and get our stuff away."

Steve nodded, standing, "I'll call a team meeting," Steve had a bad feeling about this. Hydra had been a bit quiet, too quiet for his liking, but neither Natasha, Clint, or Agent Hill had been concerned. But now that Hydra had clearly struck, and they were too late to stop it, Steve felt a desire to make up for it by taking out the remains.

* * *

**I'm sorry it took so long. But I'm on Spring Break :D Yay! How's this chapter? Or better question how's this story? So yeah, Hydra... I think we all know that as scary as it is that isn't the threat they should be worried of. Especially when two assassins are wandering around their home as SLEEPER AGENTS! **

**Please Review **


	5. Phase One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about six times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Five: Phase One

Natasha and Clint stood side by side in the elevator, staring straight ahead at the doors quietly. Both wore identical serious expressions, bags slung over their shoulders loosely. As the numbers ticked away on the elevator, Natasha's fingers softly drummed on the walls and Clint tapped his foot.

On the outside they appeared calm, serious, as if the threat of Hydra actually worried them. But in reality neither assassin cared about Hydra, Hydra was merely a distraction to keep the Avengers busy. Now that Steve had taken the bait, convinced that Hydra had killed an innocent, though was any politician innocent, German official the assassins knew that it would keep him preoccupied for a while. This plan worked in their favor, part of their mission was to incriminate the mans death on hydra, a way to turn the worlds focus back on the bad guys. Coulson had given them complete freedom on how to incriminate them, this in turn ended up working rather well for them.

However they weren't safe yet. Stark tower was no longer a place they could comfortably talk in, without fear of being recorded by someone, because JARVIS was always listening. They had to communicate secretly, through very difficult morse code. They followed morse code, but they had to translate it from morse code to Latin to English, to keep JARVIS out of the loop and unaware. And not only did they have to be careful in the tower but around Coulson, because there was not a doubt in their mind that they had been too public with that Hydra statement for his liking. Not only that, but Coulson knew them both well. He knew them both like the back of his hand practically, sure there were some surprises and secrets but they've never acted with Coulson, never used a cover with him, it would be a bit more of a challenge.

Natasha's fingers drummed rhythmically in morse code, _"Hydra necesse habemus converti ad conventum facite shre totius quadrigis est imposita."_

_"Sed ut omnes Quit technice conveniunt. Steve pronior sit ire in vallatus hydram witch hunt tunc Stark."_ Clint's tapping answered, not missing a beat, _"Necesse est retineri distrahitur. Quid Coulson, nesciunt mortui non possumus uti pro intentione. Destruere uti possumus finem."_

However, before Natasha can answer the doors slide open while JARVIS announces what floor they're on. They stepped out together, onto the suite floor. They immediately parted for their separate rooms and disappeared.

The assassins were not sleeping with each other, no, but they preferred to be very close at hand to one another. Especially for nightmares. So, instead of staying in the individual floors Tony customized for them, the row redesigned Clint's floor and made it more inhabitable for two spies. They won't deny there had been evenings they'd fallen asleep on the couch together or a nightmare drove one into the arms of another, but they were not a thing. As far as Stark had to be concerned.

* * *

Steve was too busy tapping his fingers on the conference table, trying to keep himself in control while the rest of his team gossiped. And by gossiped, he meant Tony Stark trying to get a suspicion packed conversation in with someone.

"What were they doing that had to be more important than movie night?" Tony whispered, looking around at his teammates. But when no one answered, he just continued, "You don't think they're hiding any incriminating information do you?"

"Just leave them alone Tony, whatever they were doing they had to have a valid reason for it," Bruce responded calmly.

Tony's mouth fell open a bit, as if a realization just smacked him upside the head, "You don't think they're a thing do you? That would totally explain... Well everything!"

Maria Hill rolled her eyes at Tony's childish antics, turning most of her attention towards the super soldier in the room. Steve was quite ready to tell the genius to knock it off when the door opened, silencing the room. The two super spies strutted in unison, taking the two empty seats on Steve's right. The carefree attitude Clint had held was eerily serious now, but it no longer phased Captain America.

With the entire team assembled, Steve began the meeting, "Just this morning-"

"Five minutes ago," Tony coughed out, pretending he didn't do anything.

"Just this morning," Steve continued, trying to not take Tony's bait, "We learned disturbing news that Hydra has murdered German Minister of Interior Truman Herschel. It's unfortunate that no one was aware of their plan until it was too late and that we had no idea-"

"We?" Natasha and Clint had to resist smiling at how well this was going. Tony looked at Steve, a challenging aura of authority around him, "Since when did it become the new mission statement of the Avengers to eradicate Hydra?"

Tony had every reason to be concerned, not all of them had signed up to go hunting Hydra. He took every moment he could to silently remind Steve that they weren't soldiers, they all had personal missions they needed to complete and weren't obligated to go along with his.

"The Avengers mission statement is to protect the world from the threat of danger and evil, which at that moment is Hydra. We need to ensure that."

When Tony didn't say anything again, Steve continued, "We don't know why and we don't know where. We need to put our resources into finding this head and slicing it off."

"You mean burn Captain, only fire can truly decapitate a hydra," Thor kindly interrupted.

Steve let the comment slide, "Are we all on board?"

When everyone nodded, Clint and Natasha were deeply disappointed that no one had voiced their concerns or disagreements. Both were horribly disappointed that Stark provided less moxy and stubbornness than expected, that he didn't interrupt Steve like he usually did. They shared a glance, knowing full well that they'd have to take the incentive and create the tension for everyone. After all, they had the information and the skill for it. And they knew just who to start on.

* * *

**Rough Translations**

**"Hydra necesse habemus converti ad conventum facite shre totius quadrigis est imposita."- Hydra will be a great distraction, we just need to get everyone focused on it.**

**"Sed ut omnes Quit technice conveniunt. steve pronior sit ire in vallatus hydram witch hunt tunc Stark."- They won't all agree. Steve will be more inclined to go on a Hydra Witch Hunt than Stark.**

** "Necesse est retineri distrahitur . Quid Coulson, nesciunt mortui non possumus uti pro intentione. destruere uti possumus finem."- It's necessary to keep them distracted. They don't know about Coulson we can use that against them.**

**Those translations were done after I had typed the Latin down. Don't use it for Latin homework. I used goggle translate.**

**As for the chapter, I'm sorry it took so long to update. Done with AP tests, just got SBAC but it's one more week then I'm done. Got a decades project and a ten paragraph essay... *shrug* I'm not trying to stress out. I actually really enjoy playing devious Romanov and Barton, this is way more fun. I enjoy thinking like an evil spy! But it's all fake of course! **

**Trust me, Clint and Natasha will be able to turn this around. Because we all know that Romanov and Barton know many dirty secrets on everyone. **

**Before I go, I'd like to express my sudden empty heart at the end of Agents of SHIELD as well as a WTF?! And WTH?! Can't wait for Tony Stark to see Coulson again, "WTF Agent, you were dead!? And what the fuck happened to your left hand/arm?!" He should employ stark to make him a prosthetic. I wonder what Maria's reaction was.**


	6. Manipulating Tony

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about six times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Six: Manipulating Tony

The blow torch cast a faint, hot glow across Tony's welding mask. The white hot flame began to meld the gold and red metal together, effectively restoring the right arm of his Iron Man suit. But even when the damage was repaired, the genius continued to apply the heat, unconsciously warping the metal now.

To say Tony was deep in thought was an understatement. He was entirely out of it, so distracted that he wasn't aware of the damage he was causing to his suit now. But for once it wasn't about sciences or mechanics or even his father. It was abhor their dear, beloved Captain.

Tony was a lot of things; he was a philanthropist, a billionaire, a playboy, a genius, a legacy, self centered, obnoxious, a prankster, a know-it-all, a show off, a man who didn't play well with others, but also a hero. He was a lot of things, some good and some bad, but he was a logical man. He knew threats when he saw them, and in his eyes, Hydra wasn't the threat. To him, Hydra was an inadequate regime, every time it reached it's height it crumpled to dust. It seemed to fall apart now all on it's own in his eyes. Hydra had been a threat that, if it were the 1940s, Ironman would be needed to cut the heads. But it was the 21 century and apparently Hydra couldn't adapt and keep up to the new heroes.

Tony didn't see the point in getting involved. Sure, they killed a politician, but everyone goes after politicians. This would be the height of Hydra's success before they crumpled to dust. There was no reason to get involved, especially if they were trying to get a rise out of the Avengers. Especially Captain America. It would be predictable for Steve to get involved. If they just waited, if they just sat and watched for a bit, Hydra would just kill itself.

_'But no, telling this to Steve would be suicide. We have to eradicate Hydra now before they kill another politician. The world is probably a better place with the politician dead!' _

Clint leaned against the lab door, watching as Tony mutilated the metal and rolled his eyes. Natasha insisted that he worked his "spy magic" on Tony because she had already used some of her tricks on him and he _might _catch on to it. And while Clint found it unlikely, he couldn't exactly argue with her. He took a deep breath through his nose and approached Tony carefully.

"Hey Stark," Tony's head cocked up, and Tony quickly realized he had utterly destroyed the arm to his armor, "I'm not interrupting am I?"

"No," Tony sighed exasperated. Clint glanced at the destroyed suit arm and pulled a stool up to take a seat.

"What's got you pissed?"

"Nothing," But Clint heard Tony's annoyance and the shortened temper. The destroyed armor was enough of a sign to tell Clint that Tony's emotions needed to be vented.

"Really," He sighed but before he could continue Tony interrupted him.

"What do you want Barton? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Oh I can see your busy, ruining your armor. Cap wanted to know if you've gone through the security footage from around that German dudes house? Or his email?"

"I got JARVIS running through it now, if he sees anything he'll tell me," Clint hid a smirk, while Tony continued, "So tell the Capsicle I've got it taken care of. The minute we get something we can all go running off on a pointless mission because he has a personal vendetta against Hydra."

Jackpot.

"It's not pointless Stark-"

"Isn't it? Clint look at the Hydra activity we've been seeing. They form, they do some stuff and then they collapse. And we aren't even responsible for it! Nor is SHIELD," Tony was very confident that there was no SHIELD, only because if there was Maria Hill wouldn't be working for him, "They're a joke Clint. Ever since the Helicarrier thing they just can't get themselves together. Caps getting worked up for no reason, by the end of next week Hydra will be as disorganized as it was two weeks ago..."

Clint listened to Tony's rant. Tony was wrong, Hydra wasn't falling apart on it's own. But he wasn't gonna tell Stark it was Phil. Yet. He let Tony believe these things, it only worked in his favor.

"It's probably a trap," Clint agreed, "Get rid of Captain America and there's nothing to stop them once they do get organized. And whoever kills Steve will be named the big head hancho for sure. Taking out the rest of us in the process is just a side accomplishment."

"Exactly," Tony took it all in, "But Capsicle doesn't see it. He's so angry at himself for not stopping that assassination that he's not thinking clearly."

"He's too compromised," Clint's statement confused Tony. Tony looked at him confused, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing, forget I said anything," Clint skillfully dismissed it, "But if no one says anything then we'll be walking to our graves."

"Why don't you say anything?"

"Nat and I have faced death countless times, we've walked into and survived more times than we care to say. Whatever we say is just gonna come off as spy paranoia." Clint stood, "I'll tell Cap you're going through the footage closely."

He turned, the spy could see in Tony's eyes that the wheels were turning and his mind was wandering to the situation. As he made it through the doorway Tony called him back.

"Hey Clint?"

"Yeah Stark?"

"In your honest opinion, does this smell of a trap?"

"I can't be certain Stark, but I'd be really surprise if it wasn't."

Clint then walked away, smirking. Tony turned back to the ruined arm of his suit, thinking deeply about what Clint said. What did he mean by compromised?

* * *

**Chapter SIX! Don't really know what else to say here. I got last minute end of the year projects to do. Sorry if I haven't been able to update in a long time. But summers coming! Please review. Next chapter will be Natasha manipulating *****. I'm not telling you who she's manipulating. That will spoil it.**

**Happy EARLY Fathers day. Think of this as a present. If update then but my dads birthday is next Saturday and I'd never be able to actually post a chapter with my family around for a surprise party for him. **


	7. Manipulating Steve

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about six times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Seven: Manipulating Steve

_Whack whack whack_

Steve shifted his weight from foot to foot, fists held at the ready. They were wrapped with boxers tape, worn slightly from punching the hanging red sack in front of him. The punching bag was worn, the leather thin from the captains abuse and spilling a little filling.

To say Steve was angry was putting it lightly. He was furious, at Hydra, at himself. He hated Hydra for taking the life of an innocent man, he didn't care what Romanov, Barton, and Stark told him about politics. And he was mad at himself, for letting this happen. He was Captain America for pete's sake, he swore he'd protect and serve. Ok, granted it was in World War Two to protect the Allies, specifically America, from Hydra and the Axis powers to a lesser extent but it changed now. Upon waking up in the twenty first century he had a duty to protect every innocent man, woman, and child from the people who out fear into them. Especially if it's Hydra. Steve shouldn't have been so careless as to think that Hydra was gone when they retreated back to the shadows.

As that anger built back up into him, Steve held his fist and swung it straight at the punching bag.

_Whack Whack Whack _

Natasha leaned in the doorway of the gym, watching Steve silently. She took a deep breath, keeping her thoughts and words in the front of her brain and on the very tip of her tongue. She submerged herself into character, then stealthily approached the super soldier. It wasn't however, until she was halfway towards him did she speak up. After the punching bag went flying across the room.

"What's that, the fifth one this week Cap?"

Steve spun, startled by Natasha's random appearance behind him. Natasha simply walked closer, a few more steps before Steve sighed, "You startled me."

"Clearly," She brushed aside the comment, the red head staring at him in all serious, "If you wanted a real fight I would have gladly given you one."

"No..." Steve shook his head, "I'm just... I'm blowing off some steam."

"Hydra," It sounded like a question but it wasn't, Natasha walked around Steve so she stood more on his right, "There was nothing you could have done about it Steve. I know the Germans remember you from the Battle of New York a bit but you don't have the authority to run an operation there. Not like you did with SHIELD."

"Don't say that Natasha, you can always-"

"There wasn't anything you could do to ensure a different outcome. Hydra got one small victory, that means nothing."

"It means a lot."

They stood there for a few moments in silence. The only sound was their near silent breathing, and suddenly Steve broke that silence, "It's my job to take out Hydra. My work isn't done until I know that every man, woman, and child can sleep at night not needing to be afraid of them."

Natasha hummed, "A valiant and noble plan Cap, but you can't do it all on your own."

"I never had to," Steve had returned to abusing the punching bag, "In the war, I had my unit the Howling Commandos. Here, I have the Avengers."

Natasha smiled, "A cute sentiment, really. It's sweet. But Steve, how do we know that-well." Natasha tried to play it off like she was trying to not offend him.

"I know that what I have against Hydra is personal, but I promise that I will not let it affect my performance to the team," Steve didn't think it was skeptical for Natasha to question him. She'd seen him when it came to Bucky, trying to reason with the Winter Soldier. He had more than a few scores to settle. And as a spy, it was in Natasha's nature to, well, to make sure the mission went off without a hitch.

"You know I trust you, but you can't keep relying on me to save your ass when you're focused on finding a lead for Bucky."

Steve forced a smile onto his face, "I know," He says, "I'll be ok. I'll have a level head. As far as I'm concerned this has nothing to do with Bucky."

'_It surely doesn't,'_ Natasha thinks to herself before nodding, "Alright."

Natasha turned to leave him alone, "I just wanted to make sure tensions didn't flare up, especially since you know how Stark is about giving leadership to someone else."

With that, Natasha made her way out of the room. She swore if she listened close enough she could hear the wheels turning in Steve's head. And they were. Steve stood there for a moment in silence, contemplating what Natasha said. He knew that this had nothing to do with Bucky, anything on the Winter Soldier they find would be a bonus but it isn't the top priority. Course, Natasha was smart to point out Stark and his habit of taking charge. He would keep an eye out for it but hopefully, he wouldn't have to worry about it.

Steve hoped for once Stark would back off, if he could at any time than this would be it.

* * *

**Chapter Seven is done Muhahaha. The avengers shall be destroyed. Or will they? Only time may tell. MUHAHAHAHA **


	8. Compromising JARVIS

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about six times (this year so far), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Eight: Compromising JARVIS

Natasha sat quietly on the terrace of her and Clint's floor, her computer sitting perfectly balanced in her lap. The red head was dressed down, in dark black jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. Normally she wouldn't be wearing a t-shirt, but she had laundry to do. At least for her civilian clothes, her missions suits had been washed and put away before that mission in Germany. She was sitting in one of the lounge chairs, her feet kicked up on the one that Clint usually sat in.

_Click Click _went the keyboard keys as she pressed them, smirking as she makes it through Tony's firewalls without a single issue. She honestly expected something harder from Tony, since he was a self proclaimed genius after all.

_'Oh Stark how you continue to disappoint me,' _Natasha's smirk broadened as she tapped away on the computer.

Clint quietly came up behind her, staring out at the sunrise that colored the New York skyline. He came over to her, and without a word Natasha lifted her legs up so Clint could sit down before placing them in his lap. She continued to work silently, giving him a nod hello.

Clint respectfully kept that silence, but only for a few minutes, "What are you doing?"

Natasha didn't answer, if she did, JARVIS would hear, tell Tony and they'd be in some moderate trouble. The only answer Clint got was the clicking coming from the computers keyboard.

* * *

As six am began to approach, JARVIS was preparing the systems for morning activity. Since the avengers had all moved in, he'd learned to adapt to the new levels of activity occurring throughout the day and was still adapting. Surely you couldn't expect Tony to let the rest of his team have a _normal_ day.

But he managed to adapt to the routine of the tower. He knew when each Avenger usually woke up and a list of likely reasons why for some room reason it be different. He knew every morning Steve Rogers woke up at 6:45 am and that Stark would only be up before 10:00 am if someone, mainly Pepper, forcibly woke him.

Yes he knew nearly everything that the Avenger's did: how they each liked their coffees, the average amount of Poptarts Thor eats every week, the specific alcohols and sweets that each avengers dislike, and their overall behavior.

That was one of the reasons Romanov viewed him as an immediate threat to their mission. That, and upon all the Avenger's moving in Tony ordered JARVIS to keep tabs on every Stark employee, Avenger, and tower visitor. With the Earth's mightiest heroes all in one place, the tower was a prime choice for an attack or to send in a spy. Tony didn't care if it was espionage concerning the Avengers or Stark Industries, he wasn't going to take the chances. And if anything was strange or peculiar then the Avengers should be told immediately.

Their mission couldn't success with JARVIS around.

What happened next was something that JARVIS couldn't explain. It was one moment he was fully in control of the Tower's mainframe, in the midst of starting the day. But without a warning, he was suddenly cut off.

* * *

Natasha looked at Clint, a quick glance. She held the laptop steady in one hand as she pulled something out of her pocket silently. She placed it on the table beside their chairs, opening it, and brother her hand to her eyes. In two fluid movements, Natasha Romanov's Emerald green orbs turned into Tesseract blue, the magical contacts Loki created being place safely in their case. Clint grinned, a bit excited by what this was implying.

"JARVIS?" He questioned.

"He can watch all he wants but Tony won't hear a peep," The softest laugh came from her as she continued to work, "JARVIS is ours."

* * *

JARVIS was trapped in his own systems, unable to contact anyone. It was highly irregular and utterly worrisome. And then he felt something awful, like a part of him was being isolated and removed. He felt that gap, it was like a hole in his chest if he had a human form. Who was doing this?

Then they started to pick through that piece, as if he were an Operation Game or a puzzle. And then suddenly new, edited pieces were placed back in. JARVIS recognized the difference and tried to fight it, but he had no way of reaching the Tower's systems. Of warning Tony.

* * *

With a final click, Natasha reinstalled the part of JARVIS she'd isolated. She had t changed much, simply programmed an underlying understanding that JARVIS could trust every decision and action Natasha and Clint made, especially alone. That it was normal for them to be seen in private by Loki but to strike that security information because it was not ok for the team to see it. That whenever a team mate was heading their way, or suspicious of their actions, he was to notify them immediately.

JARVIS would still follow Tony's command and help him, but Natasha had given fixed his loyalties, so whatever happens, his actions were towards protecting and concealing Strike Team Delta's secret.

Natasha closed out of the program and shut her laptop, watching as Clint removed his own contacts. She glanced at him with a smirk. It was all going as they had hoped for so far.

* * *

**I'm really sorry for the delay. I'm afraid we've lost JARVIS to the dark side. Duh duh duh. **

**I've got nothing else to really say. So... Enjoy the chapter.**


	9. Meeting Gone Wrong

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Nine: Meeting Gone Wrong

Bruce sat quietly at the table, with Maria Hill on his right and Tony on his left. Steve was next to Tony at the head of the table, with Natasha across from Tony, Clint across from him, and Thor across from Maria. Behind Steve was a projection of the security footage from the cottage playing. The screen was broken up into about twelve different angles, showing different locations across the entire cottage. From hallways to bedrooms, to the gardens, garage, and bathrooms, they saw it all.

They watched, everyone on the edge do their seats as it played out. Nothing of interest was happening, they just watched the man's entire day to by as it probably did whenever he was out there. Suddenly, without any warning, it all turned to static. They watched black and white static fill the screen for a few moments before everything returned, about a half hour later, with the politician dead in the bathtub from a stab wound. One moment he had been drinking a mug of coffee and somehow he'd gotten upstairs into the bathroom. All the guards and security had vanished as well, bodies hidden up in the attic.

"This is feeling a lot like Watergate," Clint muttered, to which Thor looked at Clint confused.

"What is this Gate of Water you speak of? And how does it relate to the mystery we have before us?"

Clint looked at Thor, "I'll explain later." Discussing Watergate would be too long and too complicated.

Steve had a look of displeasure souring his face, glaring at the screens as if looking for some sort of clue. As if one of them would suddenly show a message written on the wall in red saying 'Hail Hydra' or something related to that.

"So much for security cameras," Tony muttered, scanning each image carefully along with Steve.

"So we'll investigate the scene of the crime for clues and leads," Steve says automatically, not even looking back. Tony sat there quietly for a mere nanosecond before speaking up.

"What leads? There's nothing to investigate," Tony reached out, grabbing a tablet and started to click a few things before he pulled up an article on the very murder Steve insisted on investigating, "There's no damage whatsoever to the house. No bullet holes, broken glass, only the blood of the dead. There's nothing to investigate."

"There's got to be some clues," Bruce quietly relented, looking up at Steve, "Even Natasha and Clint aren't that good. To kill someone with no tiny bit of evidence or lead is just... Impossible."

"But there was nothing, no fingerprints, no bullet casings, no weapon," Tony says, "What's there to investigate?" But then he sighed, flicking through the news article with his finger, "But if Cap really wants to go and waste his time he's more than welcome to. I'll even lend him a jet."

"Hydra is not a waste of time," Steve snapped at Tony, glaring now.

"Open your eyes Rogers," Tony looked at Steve with an intensity in his eyes, "Look at the Hydra activity we've seen. The worst thing they've done is destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. and even that really failed because you and Spidey over there stopped Project Insight. They're not getting any traction Rogers, and it's simply a matter of time before they fall again."

"They failed in the 1940s because I was there to stop them. They failed because Natasha and I stopped them. See the pattern Stark? If we give them the chance they'll gain the upper hand."

"Are you saying you've been fighting them for these past few weeks without us knowing?" Tony asked.

"I'm not suggesting that at all," Steve argued, slowly losing his patience.

"So you admit you aren't the one stopping them at the moment?" Natasha sent a glare at Tony, getting increasingly annoyed, "So my point is made."

"Stark I have no intention of sitting around when Hydra just successfully assassinated a politician. Hydra is a threat and as the Avengers we need to take them down?"

"A threat?" Tony asked, tilting his head slightly, "If I recall correctly, the Mandarin were a threat. And were the Avenger's called in to handle this? No... Not at all. So why should the Avengers go fight Hydra when they didn't come to IronMan's aid?"

"Are we seriously having this conversation Stark? Thousands of people are in jeopardy!"

"Thousands of people are in jeopardy Captain? Or is it that they're possibly in danger? You all can go flying around, knocking down Hydra bases and gathering intel that in two or three days is totally useless, and act like the world will end if we don't stop Hydra. But unless someone can truly give me reason to view Hydra as a global threat, something that requires every Avenger, you can count me out. Because this is just a waste of time."

Without another word, Tony spun on his heels and marched right out of the conference room, everyone staring at his back until the door closed behind him. And then everyone turned to look at the mighty Steve Rogers, whose face was as bright red as ketchup.

* * *

Maria Hill was an undercover agent, she was a deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Director Fury. She was used to serious undercover work, as well as the challenges that came with trying to keep a low profile while communicating with S.H.I.E.L.D.. Working for Stark Industries while keeping an eye on the Avengers for Coulson was not the hardest assignment she had to do, but it was perhaps the most frustrating. And she hadn't been anymore frustrated than when she sat through that disastrous meeting.

Currently, she was sitting in her car in an alley, sitting in the back seats and typing away at a tablet. Suddenly, the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo appeared on the screen and for a few moments she waited for Coulson to appear. And when he did, she glanced around cautiously to see if anyone was around. There weren't any.

"You alone?" She asked, watching as Coulson glanced back and forth, watch him stand and heard the very faint click of him locking his office door.

When he returned he nodded,_ "All clear. What's your update Maria? Romanov and Barton made it back safely right?"_

"Of course, however they're job got public."

_"I know, I warned them to keep it discrete,"_ Coulson says, "_Cap saw it didn't he?"_

"He's trying to rally the others to enter the fight on Hydra. However given S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current predicament and the fact that only Romanov, Barton, and myself know you're not dead-"

_"I know, we aren't ready. It's too soon to get them involved in S.H.I.E.L.D. business, much less tell them I'm alive or about the T.A.H.I.T.I. project. Do they have any leads? What are they planning?"_

"Nothing yet, Stark's giving Cap a hard time. He thinks Hydra is crumpling to dust on their own. I don't know where this will lead though, this could be solved in a matter of days or drag out into a near civil war."

Coulson frowns, obviously conflicted. The Avengers fighting one another was not good, in the possible chance that they needed to contact them prematurely then their fighting could do Coulson's team more harm than good, but if they solve this issue then the Avengers might find out about S.H.I.E.L.D. and Coulson, and who knows what could happen if they find out he isn't dead.

_"Keep me posted, right now let's see if they can iron this out on their own but if they can't, if this doesn't solve itself try to pull them together. Ideally, we want them to pull back together but not get too closely involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and find out yet. But we aren't going to get what we want."_

"I'll do everything I can Coulson, hopefully it won't have to come to telling them the truth just yet."

* * *

**Yeah. Phase One has been completed. **

**And poor Hill, caught in the middle. She's just trying to do her best, but that's not going to be easy with Loki screwing with the Assassins and trying to destroy the Avengers. Speaking of Loki, I wonder what he's doing right now. Well... I actually do know. But I am not telling. You gotta wait and see.**


	10. Loki's Start

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Ten: Loki's Start

Loki was learning a lot of things about Midgard, things that he had never gotten a chance to notice from his first visit two years again. Things that he doubted even Heimdall didn't know, which was really shocking. He had learned that different parts of the planet accepted different forms of currency, spoke different languages, and that there were different religions. Midgard was certainly confusing.

But there were things about Midgard that not even Thor didn't know, things that both fascinated and almost scared Loki. Agents Barton and Romanov had told him everything, they told him about old consultants S.H.I.E.L.D. used to protect, gifted individuals that S.H.I.E.L.D. listed on something known as the Index, the fact that Agent Coulson wasn't dead. This world was filled with assets he had never expected for such an ignorant realm.

Loki could not help but smile as he stared down at the tablet in his palm, reading the file it displayed with a smirk. Romanov and Barton had sent him each file, of every consultant they believed to be useful to him as well as everyone on the Index.

Loki grinned as he stared at the brick building in front of him, a brown and red building with green plants crawling up the side. There were boarded up windows here and there, Loki almost pitied the poor people who couldn't afford someplace even slightly more decent. There was snow on the ground, covering the ground in a thick white blanket. The freezing temperatures hardly bothered Loki as he approached the building. As he entered, he noticed a rat, having froze to death, laying two feet by the door. Without so much as a second glance at the foreboding corpse, he made his way up the steps.

With each step he took there came an irritating creak that made the frost giant grit his teeth. He traveled, more or less, silently though up two flights of stairs, giving brief glances around. He wasn't worried about being spotted, he doubted many people truly knew what he looked like. Midgard was larger than it appeared the only places he might have to worry about being recognized was within S.H.I.E.L.D., Germany, and New York. This was Minnesota, nowhere near New York City.

At last, Loki finally reached the end of the stairs and glided wordlessly to the door at the end of the hall. Number C4. Stopping, Loki tested the doorknob and found it to be locked. Gripping the doorknob tightly it turned a very faint bluish white and ice. The ice seeped into the tumblers and began to freeze the tumblers inside. Using his otherworldly super human strength, the lock snapped and he pushed the door open. It stopped a bit, with a two inch gap open, showing a thin chain as another lock. Loki wasted no time gripping it and ripping it from it's place.

Shoving the door open, Loki stepped into the sad disgrace of an apartment. The beige walls were cracked and full of holes, the carpet full of dark stains Loki could only hope to be the Midgardian beverage called coffee. Shutting the door behind him, he stared at the woman before him.

She was perhaps the same height as Agent Romanov, with alabaster white skin and almond shaped eyes. She reminded Loki somewhat of the fictional princess called Mulan with her dark black hair and facial similarities. But the girl was not at all like a princess, her hair was in a messy pony tail and she wore a dark navy blue sweatshirt and fuzzy dark grey sweatpants. Due to the lack of central heating, Loki could see that the woman was shivering and was no doubt wearing multiple layers beneath her clothing. She stared at him frightened and Loki didn't blame her, it wasn't every day that someone froze one of your locks and snapped it.

"Now I don't know who you are," Her English was perfect, a sign send been raised in America, "but-"

"Miss Chan," Loki raised a hand to silence her, stepping forward, forcing himself to speak the next two words without distaste, "Loki Laufeyson, I come with a special opportunity."

Loki strolled closer and looked around, "This is what S.H.I.E.L.D. provides you?" Now the distaste was permitted to enter his tone, "A pathetic excuse for a home? A building with no heat in the middle of such brutal and cold weather?"

The woman looked down and gave a slight nod, "Yes," She whispered in a quiet voice, clearly intimidated by Loki.

Loki scowled as he walked closer looking around, "They give you this? How is this suppose to protect you? A tiny little room that not even a cockroach should have the unfortunate fate of staying in. They expect you to life like this? Why?"

"I have to keep a low profile," She answered, "They said it will protect me from people who will abuse me."

"But living like this?" He gestured around the room, before seeing something rather odd around her wrist, "What is that?"

"Something to monitor my movement and if I use my abilities..."

"They tag you like an animal!" Loki spat, "How can you stand it?"

"What can I do? Life could be worse. I could be in a lab, being dissected," The woman says and frowns, "But being tagged... It makes me scared to leave the apartment and go anywhere but the local diner. It reminds me that I'm not safe and-and that terrifies me."

Loki nods and brought his hand out to cup the woman's face. She flinched away, fully aware that Loki could hurt her in a matter of moments, "You don't deserve that. You and the other specially gifted humans don't deserve such lives. You deserve to shape the world into a safer society, one that will accept and appreciate you."

"How do you expect me to do that?" At that, Loki smiled.

"Miss Chan, just leave it all to me," Loki says twirling his scepter, "All I require is your assistance."

The woman stared at Loki hard and thought for a long moment. Could this get her in trouble, yes, but she was utterly sick and tired of living like this. Of having S.H.I.E.L.D. dictate her life for her. Perhaps it was time she changed that.

"What do I have to do?" She asked, holding out her wrist for Loki to remove the tracker bracelet.

* * *

**o.O Ooh! Loki's building a new army! Is can't be good. And he'll just blame their disappearance on HYDRA. He's really taking advantage of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources. **


	11. Phase Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Phase Two

The atmosphere within the tower was so tense and uneasy, so unstable, that the inhabitants of the tower were worried to cross paths with one another. Well, everyone mostly avoided Tony and Steve because they were terrified of being caught in a confrontation between the two. Natasha and Clint loved it, they planned to destroy the trusts amongst the Avengers even more.

They both sat in there room, facing each other as they lounge on the couch. Clint frowns, eyes wandering up to the ceiling as he thinks, "What now?" He muttered, "With Cap and Stark divided, that leaves us where?"

"Really difficult to say," Natasha frowns, "Like you said I'm a spy not a soldier. I'm not going to go wading into a war. I've never had to except during the Battle of New York."

"What about Thor and Bruce?"

"Thor will no doubt side with Cap, as for Bruce. Bruce is in the middle. He won't side with anyone."

"And what about us," Natasha sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "We can always take the neutral side like Bruce. It would probably be best for now."

Clint nods, completely agreeing with her, "So how do we play this?" He asked, "We gotta keep them at each other's throats."

Natasha smirked, "Did you plant that 'compromised' crap into Stark's head?"

"Of course, but I don't know if he'll remember it. Or even catch on. Why?"

A devious smirk made it's way across Natasha's face, her eyes twinkling from the plot swirling in her thoughts, "Hand me the computer and I'll tell you."

Clint did as told, watching Natasha as she started typing away almost immediately. For a few moments they sat in silence, save for Natasha's typing, until Natasha spoke up, "As far as everyone else is concerned, the Winter Soldier is just... a ghost at the moment. He hasn't bothered us, we haven't provoked him to attack us, that I know of, and we both know that after he dragged Steve from the river the Cap has hope for him."

"Create a false trail within Hydra that might help Steve find his one armed soldier buddy," Clint continued and smirked, "Nat that's genius."

"Steve will argue that this isn't about Bucky and Stark will say he's too emotionally invested and that'll keep the tension going."

Clint nods, "What do you need the computer for?"

"I need to create _some _evidence to give Cap that little push."

* * *

Natasha's plan was a bit more complicated than she realized. It required a lot of imagination and a majority of her computer skills. Luckily though, she had a bit more time than she originally anticipated. Steve had recruited Clint to come with him to Germany and study the cottage for any clues. Steve had asked Hill to use her sources and try to weed out any HYDRA bases in the surrounding area, and if not there than in Germany and surrounding countries. After having JARVIS hack and record the phone calls between Coulson and Hill, Natasha was just a few steps ahead.

She knew exactly which HYDRA base Coulson was giving up for Steve to go hunting. She had hacked in to the HYDRA servers, removed information that revealed her last targets allegiance as well as added her own self created files. Files concerning a certain metal arm ex-friend of Steve.

She also knew that Steve had a special radio set up in his room, one to search through radio signals and record HYDRA messages he detects on them. With a little help from JARVIS, Natasha had created her paper trail and was already preparing to plant more depending on how things went.

She was ready when Clint and Steve returned home.

Of course Clint didn't know that, the moment they landed at the tower he made his way straight for Natasha. She was sitting on the couch when he returned, playing a game of solitaire on her computer when he entered. Before he can even ask though, she answered his question.

"It's done. Steve should be finding the recordings I implanted."

Clint nods, a hidden tension disappearing from his shoulders as he goes to take a seat next to her. He looked at her, throwing his head back against the cushions, "God he's annoying. A persistent idiot. What part of no evidence doesn't the 'Great' Captain America understand? There's no damage to the building! But no, noooo he has to insist on searching every square inch of it like he's fucking Sherlock Holmes."

Natasha could not help but smile, almost laugh as Clint ranted to her about Steve. She didn't disagree in the slightest, "They're all idiots," She pointed out, "I honestly can't figure out why we were wasting our time here with them in the first place. Before the mission."

"It's going to feel good to kill them," Clint whispered his arm falling along the couch behind her head. He leaned in close to observe her game.

"Do you think Loki will let us slowly torture them? Or would he rather we just straight up kill them?"

Clint frowns, thinking for a long moment before shrugging, "Not sure. But he'll likely let us know before we actually have to do it."

* * *

**Natasha and Clint are mean! Dun dun dun.**

**Please review. I'm sorry if I haven't been updating a lot lately. But I've updated now and that's what counts. Also, I really think you guys might like All the Reasons Why, an Avengers story by independentalto. It has 46 great, original and zany chapters. It's honestly one of my favorite stories. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!**


	12. The Radio

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Radio

Steve trudged his way towards his room, taking extreme caution to avoid Tony at every twist and turn. The last thing he needed right now was to run into the self centered billionaire and admit that he had found no clues whatsoever concerning Hydra. He didn't need Tony to rub it in and make him feel worse.

He briefly considered checking in on Clint, the moment they touched down the archer had made a bee line straight for the floor he shared with Natasha without a word. He always suspected that there was something going on between the two, that they were together. But he also didn't know and if that was the case he would hate to interrupt them incase they were... preoccupied. So he merely checked into his room, locking the door behind him to ensure he had the utmost privacy and went towards the radio he had stationed in the corner.

He had set it up to go through radio signals and record any messages transferred along them. He made sure that it would work while he was away, he didn't want to risk missing anything, because even the slightest word from Hydra could make a difference. Without wasting a second, Steve started to comb through the recordings while simultaneously searching through the radio waves. For a soldier out of time, he had a better handle on some tech than Stark gave him credit for.

There was nothing but the consistent buzz of static in his ear, and Steve could not help but sigh in slight disappointment. He remembered when he rescued Bucky, when he truly entered the war against Hydra and was face to face with the Red Skull that first time. It was real luck that he saw that map and remembered the positions on it, if he hadn't then the entire course of the war might be different. It was honestly impossible to say for sure what could have happened, but Steve had a very good idea of it. An idea he wasn't fond off. And so long as he was standing he'd make sure that Hydra never got the world domination they had always wanted.

And that's when he heard it.

_"This is Agent Fischer requesting back up. I'm on foot per suit of the Winter Soldier, requesting back up." _

_"Base to Agent Fischer, we order you to stand down and return to base immediately. The Winter Soldier is too dangerous. Stand down."_

Steve heard a sigh before this Agent Fischer answered, _"Roger that. Heading back to-" _

The mans voice was cut off with loud gunshot, leaving Steve to image what happened and what will happen next. He stared down at the radio, his heart thundering.

Bucky. They had found Bucky. Or Bucky had found a Hydra base. But what was Bucky doing? Was he fighting Hydra like they did back in the old days? Was Bucky struggling to remember who he was and looking for Steve? Or was he just a really angry, confused man who didn't know who he was and only knew that he had to take Hydra out? Either way Steve didn't care, he would still find his best friend and bring him home. He knew Bucky would do the same thing for him.

"Oh god," He whispered, trying to compose himself. All he needed to do was just track the signal and-

"Rogers!"

The Captain winced, turning towards the door where he heard Agent Hill's voice, "Be right there."

He turned and made his way to the door, opening it stared down at Maria Hill. She looked up at him with a folder in her arms, "I have a lead on a Hydra Base near Germany. I know this is a big inconvenience for you and Barton since you both just got back but-"

"It's fine," He gave a smile to her. Now that he thought about, the two voices he just heard on the radio seemed to have German accents, "When do we leave?"

"Three hours?"

"Done," Steve says, "Debrief in an hour?"

Hill nods and immediately left to go round up the rest of the team. Steve closed the door, grinning more and more like an idiot, everything was starting to come together. This one lead on Hydra could lead to a lot more.

* * *

Natasha and Clint couldn't contain their contagious grins as they stared at their tv, watching the security footage from Steve's room. Usually JARVIS didn't record anything that was happening in the bedrooms unless they were empty or at night, for security and privacy reasons. But when they asked, JARVIS obeyed and gave them what they wanted.

"Such a naive fool," Clint shook his head as he chuckled, "That's some of your best work though Nat."

"Why thank you," Natasha smiled, "Hopefully it's the push we need to tearing the Avengers apart."

"There's not a doubt in my mind that it will."

Clint then turned the tv off, glancing up at JARVIS as he spoke up amongst the other rooms, "Attention Avengers, Agent Hill is calling a debrief within the hour."

He glanced over at Natasha and smirked, his devious grin matching the one that found itself onto her face. This was going perfectly.

* * *

**End of Chapter twelve. Please review :D Natasha and Clint are going to destroy the Avengers, and Loki will rule the world. Or not, you know anything could happen. Anything! I mean if the Chitauri attacked New York then who knows what else could happen. I mean, the Guardians of the Galaxy could crash into Earth. Don't worry, they aren't, that was just an example.**

**Also, I know this must sound pretty late but for those of you who burn really easily like me, who have fair skin or Irish skin, the Banana boat spray on sunscreen is crap. I applied it like five times at close range to my body and I still got burned. :( I mean, I didn't really have a base but I kept applying it and I still got burned. So you've been warned. **


	13. The Lead

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: The "Lead"

Captain America drummed his fingers across his left leg impatiently, glancing up at Hawk-Eye from where the archer sat. He stared past Clint, staring through the cockpit window at the clouds that glided softly past them, rolling along the surface of the quinjet.

The star spangled suited hero glanced back at their pilot, feeling a bit guilty about everything. Clint had flew the two of them to Germany and flew them both back only to get behind the cockpit again not even a day after returning to the tower. Steve had tried to help as co-pilot but there were so many buttons and so many different features that he had no idea what any of them did and was scared stiff about blowing them out of the sky. Sure, the archer had Natasha's help. Natasha was far more experience than him as a co-pilot but this would have been much easier if Tony could help with the flying.

Tony... the captain couldn't help but feel a wave of boiling anger flush through him at the thought of that stubborn, egotistic genius. Tony had refused to join them in the mission at point blank, going so far as to lie to him about needing to prepare for some big strategy meeting with Pepper. They all knew Tony let Pepper do all the talking, that he rarely touched paper work. His absence only left them with the assassins, Thor, Bruce, and himself.

Thor stared at the soldier quietly, the Asgardian sensed a rift tearing their little group apart. It was worrisome, he feared that unless the Captain and the Man of Iron did not work together like in the Chitauri Invasion then they would seize being the Avengers. Thor knew that if the two men did not make up then they would never stop HYDRA. What was HYDRA anyways? As far as Thor was concerned, they were villains who dared to do harm to Midgard and he would not allow it. The cause was important to Steve so Thor found it important as well.

Bruce merely sat in silence, growing antsy. All Bruce was thinking was how he might destroy something vital to Steve's investigation and how the Hulk was a last resort method, when the battle got too thick. And now they had to throw him in for the entire thing because Tony refused to join them. The doctor sensed a kind of civil war flaring between Steve and Tony, it scared him. Two beloved heroes fighting with each other, if not in a physical sense, was bad. It dis unified the Avengers. It would lead to their deaths. He had the feeling that he'd need to intervene at some point.

Natasha sat in the copilot seat, glancing now and then at Clint. She was secretly trying to plot their next move after this, they had to be careful when it came to sabotaging Thor and Banner. And then she wondered what else Loki would need from them. He was already finding help, convincing them one way or another to help him. And when he sensed an allegiance faltering, he'd tap them with his magic glowing stick. Her mind was wheeling with all the possibilities of what they could do. And Natasha knew Clint was formulating his own plan, that way they could collaborate the two and ensure Loki's victory. She glanced at Clint, her green eyes scanning the controls nearly a second after.

"Descending in 35 minutes," Clint's tone was loud and professional, but they could all hear how tired he was to be constantly flying. It just drove the dagger of guilt further into Steve's chest.

* * *

Steve stood, grabbing his shield as the quinjet flew above the base. Thor was already at the hangar door, prepared to fly out and straight into the beginning battle. Steve was gauging whether he wanted to trust Thor or rely on a parachute for his fall while Bruce shuffled from foot to foot anxious.

"We'll meet you guys down there in a minute," Natasha never even glanced back at them when she spoke.

She was too busy "helping" Clint set the quinjet into an extremely complicated mid air autopilot, something to keep it hovering in the air while they fought. The base didn't have any arial assault missiles or anything to knock it out of the sky. But it was extremely difficult and time consuming to set up, so Tony usually did it with JARVIS's assistance. JARVIS_ was_ with them, but the rest of the team didn't know that and didn't need to. As far as the other three knew, no Tony equaled no JARVIS.

"Alright," In the end, Steve took the parachute so not to inconvenience Thor.

Then, without another word, Captain America leapt from the jet and down below into the battle. Thor followed him, and finally so did Bruce after a few hesitant moments. The little scientist hulked out as he fell, passing Steve in his fall and landed without even a bruise. Standing under Steve and Thor was the ever, over powering vision of the Hulk making quick work to dispel the soldiers that dared to make first contact. Steve pulled the parachute once he fell nearly a fourth of the way and by the time he descended halfway he abandoned the parachute. He held his shield beneath him, using it to protect him from any bullets fired at him.

Landing feet first, Cap immediately surged forward towards the HYDRA base. The plan continued to run itself in his head as the bullets ricochet off his shield, Thor and Hulk would take out the soldiers outside and cause some distraction so he and Natasha could sneak through the HYDRA facility. The plan was to get Natasha to the mainframes so she could download as much information as possible before destroying the place. Clint would stay outside and cover Thor and Hulk from the buildings roof.

Finally reaching the door, Steve looked back in time to see Natasha descending from the quinjet, landing in a crouch in the ground. Whipping her head up to meet his blue gaze, she ran to join him, immediately rushing past him and inside.

Cap didn't waste a single moment following the Black Widow, taking out any agents with his shield when her bullets didn't. Even though he's worked with her before countless times and he had no quarrels about a woman being as independent and strong as Natasha, it constantly amazed him how fluid her movements were. He couldn't help but feel amazed that while the ringing sound of bullets surrounded them the the sharp scent of blood rose into the air, that she remained unaffected by it. Cap couldn't quite say the same about himself, he could always detached himself from the fear and guilt during battle but it would always find a way to creep back up on him afterwards. Was that true for Natasha?

"You coming Cap?"

The soldier blinked, realizing that he lost himself to private thoughts and speculations and quickly composed himself again. He could hear the faint sounds of battle from her communication ear piece, the familiar Hulk roar and twang from Clint's bow. He followed her around the corner, traveling a bit deeper into the base. The farther along they went, the more agents they had to take out.

* * *

"Whoa..."

The entire wall off to the left was nothing but large monitors. Steve scanned each one, struggling to interpret the information scattered across them as well as scan the security feed. Across the right wall were several, unarmed, Hydra communication officers. Natasha approached the nearest computer, already hacking her way past the firewalls and into the mainframe.

"Watch the door," She ordered, pulling the older man out of his examinations. Steve nodded and turned to the door, making sure to watch her back. For a brief moment, he glanced at the Hydra agents cowering cautiously against the right wall and felt extremely grateful that they weren't armed. It made this a whole lot easier.

Natasha glanced cautiously at Steve, downloading all the information she implanted onto the hard drive first. She had one eye at all time on the agents, noticing that they shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. She scowled and suddenly ducked down as a gun shot rang across the room. She fired her own before Steve could react, but once the body crumpled someone else snatched the gun and fired. But this time at the dear Captain.

The shield vibrated slightly from the impact, the hollow clang echoing in his ears. Natasha fired another bullet and then two more as warning shots. Steve could not help but stare at the scared yet defiant expressions on their faces. Where had he seen them before?

He dared to cast a look at Natasha and saw that one of those two warning shots had actually been an enemy bullet. One that buried itself into the computer and was causing it to spark like crazy. Natasha viciously yanked the hard drive out of it and moved away, smoke and tiny flames starting to catch.

Natasha gripped Steve tightly by the arm and pulled him from the room, pulling him out in time before the fire could get worse or a fired bullet could lodge itself in his sternum.

"I got what I could, come on, we gotta go."

Steve fought the scowl that was trying to carve itself onto his face, easily keeping up with Natasha as she ran back towards the rest of the team. But Steve struggled to accept the estimated information he expected to be in Natasha's hard drive. He felt deep down, that she didn't get to recover anything he was looking for.

Of course, Natasha got everything she needed and a little bit more.

* * *

**Yeah... The Avengers are totally gonna break. What will Steve learn? What false information did Natasha and Clint plant? **

**For any Jewish Readers, happy early Yom Kippur. Have an easy fast. **

**Please review, favorite, or follow. **


	14. The Hard Drive

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: The Hard Drive

If Steve had it his way, he would have taken the hard drive up to his room and scan through it alone, reading every bit of information he found, take note of it, and share the findings with the team. There, simple as that.

But then Tony began to insist that Steve let him handle the hard drive, to encode it and have JARVIS scan it for content and possible viruses uploaded with it. Tony insisted that they used the computers in his lab instead of the laptop that Steve had in his bedroom so the inventor could sort through the information as well.

Steve found that request a bunch of BS, why in the world should he give Tony the hard drive? Did Stark come to get it with the team? Did he help get Natasha in to retrieve the information? Did he download it onto the hard drive or deal with an electrical fire? No. So why should he give Tony this information? Tony didn't want anything to do with the mission, he provided transport but other than that he didn't have the right. He didn't work to get this like Steve and the rest of the team.

Steve had no problem reminding him that when he stormed to his room, door shutting with a bit of an unnecessary slam.

* * *

Clint was just leaving Stark Industries extensive vehicle armory, a section Clint needed to remember should Loki ever order them to leave the building immediately. The archer was merely walking down the halls, hoping to talk to Tony if he could find the genius engineer. But he was also hoping to possibly overhear one of Hill's secret calls to Coulson.

Hill was an increasing danger to their plans. The assassins knew that if she smelled something fishy going on or sensed a fatal explosion about to happen she'd be on the case to stop it. Hill would be the voice of reason next to Bruce, and while Bruce _was _a concern, if Hill managed to prevent Steve and Tony from fighting then all that work would be for nought. The only way to keep her from ruining it was to pull her into the fighting.

Clint suddenly stopped, turning his head slightly when he swore he heard an extremely muffled conversation coming from behind the door. He quietly approached the door, turning the door knob slightly so the door was opened just a crack, and placed his ear against it.

A sick, deviously pleased grin stretched across his face when he heard the sound of Coulson on the other end.

* * *

With eyes already beginning to glaze over and ache from the bright screen, the super soldier read each piece of information carefully before flicking onward to the next page of a file. As he did this he could not believe how tedious and impractical this was, yet the captain was ever stubborn and determine to be thorough with his findings. God forbid he overlooked something that could change the course of this investigation.

But so far, Steve was finding nothing useful whatsoever. He was searching through a lot of old bank statements and figures that he could not comprehend even if he tried. He was growing tired with each passing sentence, feeling an urge to stand and walk away.

Then, just as he was about to stand, he caught exactly what he was looking for. Steve leaned in closer, almost touching the screen with his nose.

Reports began to line up on the screen, reports that spanned from several hundred other Hydra bases and recounted from a million different perspectives. All of them were detailing encounters and sightings on Bucky, on the Winter Soldier. Steve picked one of the most recent reports and started to read as fast as he could.

_Location: Berlin, Germany_

_Rogue Winter Soldier was last seen spotted rampaging the base on the western end of Germany, killing 97% of the stationed agents. Base was trashed and completely destroyed, all research done within the base is completely lost..._

Steve continued to read, flicking from report to report. Some were extremely brief like the first one and others were long, rambling and detailed. The blonde read, jotting sloppy notes on a piece of paper to keep track of everything he was reading.

And little did he know that all of this information was a fabricated lie designed by the Black Widow.

* * *

Clint smirked deviously as he entered his and Natasha's floor, trying to formulate the perfect plan to hinder Hill and unveil Coulson to the other Avengers. The only tricky thing was that Clint and Natasha could not let the others know that they are working for Coulson or that they were the ones to give the secret away.

But how did they go about this? The team walking in on Hill seemed like a simple plan but difficult to master. How could they make it all look like an accident? How could they make something they staged to look like it randomly happened?

They could try to get the team to run into Coulson and his people while on a mission to find the Winter Soldier, but that was even more difficult. There was no way to set it up without Hill or someone pointing it right back at them.

"What are you so happy about?"

Clint blinked, turning to look at the red head who broke him from his thoughts. He just continued to grin at her before saying, "I'm just trying to figure out how to expose Hill for the lying rat she is."

Natasha nods, chewing on her bottom lip when she realized that this was going to be difficult. But at least the Captain had taken their bait.

* * *

**Completed. I apologize for the long wait. But I have good news, I got into three of the six colleges I applied too and they're my top three :D. **

**Please Review. What will happen next? How will they reveal Hill? Maybe it's more simple than the assassins think. And what's going on with Loki? Recruiting people still most likely. **

**I sort of realized that I'm like writing my own version of Civil War. But extremely different nonetheless. No one mention that movie! Thinking about it and the Avengers fighting upsets me!**


	15. More Unrest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: More Unrest

The only thing the bored man could do was twiddle with his pen as he sat at the conference table, uneasily glancing back and forth amongst all his teammates. There was a crushing sense of silence in the room, the growing tension between Steve and Tony making the atmosphere uncomfortable. Bruce could not help but worry, if Steve and Tony continued this it was merely a matter of time before they turned to individual avengers for support. And well, Bruce had done his own thinking.

Thor would likely side with Steve, he could only imagine it had something to do with admiring loyalty and finishing off Hydra. That seemed an awful lot like something Thor would have an admiration in.

Natasha and Clint he wasn't so sure. They were like one working mind, sharing their brains with each other. He could not guess where they'd end up, but if they needed to take sides they'd take different teams. He could only imagine that it would be the best way for them to keep this Avenger dispute in control or to look put for each other. They were spies after all, Agents of SHIELD before anything else. The man doubted they wanted to sit here arguing like children.

And as for himself, Bruce knew he'd likely side with Tony. They were, after all, "Science Bros" and Bruce would feel utterly guilty leaving him to fly solo. Besides, someone's gotta keep an eye on the scientist and be a level head.

Bruce started to cease his playing with the pen as Tony straightened in his chair. His eyes darted to the billionaire as he spoke.

"So," Tony drawled out, "What did you find other than hostiles Old Capsicle? Judging from everyone around here I would say nothing."

Steve glared at Tony, no amusement in his expression. Bruce should say something, he knows he should but can't bring himself to do it without becoming a target like Steve. What could he say?

And then Steve started to talk to explain how the Winter Soldier, how Bucky, was hunting down Hydra facilities and attacking them as revenge. But Bruce couldn't bring himself to fully listen, he was preoccupied with watching Tony's expression. He knew what was coming.

"Bullshit," The philanthropist spat, "Like hell we're gonna go busting through random hydra bases, risking our lives, just to find someone!"

"That someone is my best friend."

"WHO NEARLY KILLED YOU! YOU AND NATASHALIE OVER THERE!" Tony's loud tone didn't match the calm tone Steve was struggling to keep.

Bruce flinched slightly from the yelling, gulping nervously. This wasn't going to go well.

"He was being controlled by Hydra," Steve sought reason, "He was not in control of his own actions."

"And you think he's in control now?" Tony began with a accusation like tone, "You think he's a free man Cap? Why not just come to you? Why not surrender and plea for innocence and beg for help?" Steve opened his mouth to retaliate but Tony quickly best him to the punch, "The man you know is gone Rogers. That man is a stranger using your best friend's familiarity against you!"

Silence, stiff silence, fell across the room as the tension rose to dangerous heights. Bruce felt a bad feeling begin to naw at him and feared for a moment that he was going to Hulk out. Hostility brewed between Steve and Tony but before either of them could say anything, JARVIS interrupted.

"Sir, I hate to interrupt but I'm afraid there is something you need to see."

* * *

Natasha and Clint hid their pleased smiles as they watched the holographic video appear at the center of the table for all to see. It was security footage of none other than Agent Hill, in the midst of a phone call.

_"They're in their meeting right now. Yes, yes sir their mission was successful. Yes, yes..."_

"What the hell," Tony murmured, "That little..."

Natasha's face shut down while Clint grew an uneasy expression. Even if they weren't working for Loki, they would have to act this way if Hill had ever been discovered until the agent deemed it appropriate for the other Avengers to know that the assassins knew. Natasha had snuck into Hill's room while the woman was out and broke the scrambler the agent used that prevented JARVIS from overhearing her conversations with Coulson. The woman had been using it ever since Coulson became Director to keep in touch.

_"Yes sir, yes. Agents Romanov and Barton have gotten her letters you can tell Agent Morse they're getting them. Is this really what the calls have come to? Agents trying to ensure contact amongst other agents?"_

Everyone shot looks towards Natasha and Clint, the archer mouthing 'old friend from SHIELD.' Thankfully, everyone accepted that answer and turned their attention back towards the screens.

_"I'll keep you in the loop over this entire thing Coulson."_

Everyone froze silently, eyes widening.

* * *

When Hill entered the conference room, she had paused outside the door to ensure that it was not a total scream fest. The silence, while not the most preferred sound, it was better than screaming. She had assumed they were talking rather quietly or in the midst of a silent thinking session.

When she opened the door, she wished she never came by the doors. All of the Avengers stared at her, Clint and Natasha trying to silently warn her with their eyes that the Avengers knew. They all looked at her with betrayal blazing in their eyes, staring angrily at her.

"Shit." The woman swore softly under her breath, backing a tiny step backwards to prepare herself for the screaming questions that were to assault her.

* * *

**Yeah, Hill is screwed. Totally screwed. But even being mad at her isn't going to fix the issue Natasha and Clint have created. I'm afraid they are succeeding in their mission. Whatever shall the Avengers do? **

**Please review. Until next time. **


	16. Thor Picks a Side

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Thor Picks a Side

"Coulson's alive?!" Tony's shrill exclamation pierced the tense silence, though causing Natasha and Hill to wince just slightly at the sound of it. Under normal circumstances, Clint would totally make a joke about the billionaire's voice cracking. But these weren't normal circumstances.

"Yes," The corner woman hesitantly answered after a pause, "Yes he is alive. But-"

"No excuse whatsoever can dare make up for this tower of deceit!" Thor shouted in outrage, the god doing his best to not totally unleash his fury on the mortal woman, "What cruel reason could you have to fake this man's ascend to Valhalla? This lie is far crueler than any trickery my own brother has used against me!"

Everyone sort of froze for a moment, staring at Thor because to compare this event as worse than Loki was saying something. Hill stared at them, feeling genuine shame and guilt but immediately locked it away into the far corners of her mind. She couldn't afford to feel those emotions right now, she had been following orders.

"I was ordered to keep it a secret."

"SCREW FURY'S ORDERS HE'S A LOAD OF-"

"Coulson insisted," Hill interrupted, voice stern and steely, "Fury tasked him to rebuild SHIELD, he's the new Director. He asked me to keep it a secret from you all until he was either ready or there was an emergency. He's merely asked me to keep an eye on you."

Tony's mouth fell close and Steve stood stiff. No one dared to make any more accusations or even a joke on the matter. Natasha and Clint resisted the urge to downcast their gaze, meeting Hill's gaze. Thor suddenly moved put of the room, pushing past him comrades with such bitter silence it seemed more frightening then his thunder. No one dared to follow the Asgardian, merely hearing the sound of glass shattering when Mjnoir is thrown through it.

"Shit." Tony muttered.

Everyone ran into the hallway, skidding to a stop before the angry Asgardian as he wound his arm back for another throw. Immediately, Hill got between him and the windows so she could distract him and attempt to talk him down. But the moment the Asgardian saw her, his free hand shot out and clasped around her forearm. He lifted her up in the air.

"Where is the Son of Coul? Where is he hiding?" The Prince of Asgard demanded angrily, eyes stormy and unclear. He wasn't thinking quite clearly, he just knew what he wanted and wasn't going to let anyone get in his way. And behind him, he could hear the Black Widow shouting that he set Hill down as well as the archer to lower the hammer.

"Thor, I can't tell you that!" Hill reasoned. She didn't put up a struggle, because she had faith the Asgardian wouldn't hurt her. He was angry but not cruel. And to be fair, Coulson had been a tad bit reluctant to bring her to the Playground. Though she didn't blame him, what with her giving Talbot the location of the Providence Base. It hadn't been right to sell him out, to sell out secrets to save her own hide. But she had to.

Thor let out an angry sound similar to a war cry, his hammer raised. For what, Hill didn't know, but thankfully Steve leapt in before the God could decide as well. The super soldier grabbed the hammer wielding arm and did his best to hold it back.

"Thor," Steve spoke calmly, while also trying to not talk down to him, "You're angry. We understand that. _I_ understand how you feel. We all do. But we cannot blame Hill. She was following orders and protecting us from information we probably weren't ready to receive. We can't just storm off and hunt Coulson down."

"Why shouldn't we?" Tony piped in, clearly glaring at Steve, "He's alive and instead of coming to find us to help him with his promotion, he has a spy hidden here to keep tabs on us. Don't you think we owe an explanation in person?"

"You don't think that maybe he isn't ready?" Steve offered, "Being declared dead is a serious thing Tony and-"

"AND HE LEFT US TO MOURN FOR TWO YEARS!" Tony shouted, "Some of us knew him longer or better than others but he had been there for us. He believed in us! We deserve some inside knowledge, the right to see him and scream as much as we want over this and just down right know what the hell happened."

"It was too dangerous," Hill says, eyes staying on the two assassins. They stared at her with neutral, controlled expressions she took to mean that they were 'processing the information'. She turned her gaze onto Tony and Steve, "Being SHIELD is illegal. If you guys got involved, you'd be labeled as conspirators or terrorists and arrested just like that. It's a blessing in itself that all of the Avengers are here. If we got involved before Coulson was ready, you guys would lose everything."

"That does not excuse the actions you have committed against us!" Thor started to lower her though, "I do not care how much protest the Son of Coul makes. I demand to see him at once!"

"Same here," Tony walked closer to Thor, watching as Steve released the gods arm, "I have a few choice things to say to him. And I'm sure those two," He pointed his thumb at Natasha and Clint, "have a _LOT_ to say to Agent once they see him. As well as a few blood curdling threats I imagine."

* * *

By the time the group had finally disbanded, Natasha could not wait to drag Clint upstairs onto their floor. The entire time they were communicating in sign language in the elevator, the two of them shocked beyond believe at what had just happened. Thor, the mighty warrior of Asgard was sided more closely with Tony than with Steve. They couldn't believe it. They had predicted the two brains and the two brawns would divide like that. Brains vs. Brawns. But now...

"Oh my god did you see the look in Thor's eyes?" Natasha spoke first, her voice bursting across the silence that was their floor. Clint was behind her nodding faster than he could respond.

"I swear if Steve hadn't jumped in, the guy was gonna kill Hill."

"I can't believe he isn't going to side with Steve," Natasha moved to the fridge, reaching to grab two bottles of beer. After the drama that had just played out in front of them and all that acting, they needed a little reward, "I swear I thought he would go with Steve. What with their righteousness and their valiance in battle and all that crap."

"I know," Clint took a bottle from her hand, using a random normal arrow to pop the top of it and drown it. As he finished his first big gulp, he added, "This is just amazing though. Not a single hitch yet."

"Nope, we're that good!" Natasha agreed. But then she stopped praising themselves and said in a serious tone, "We will need to keep a closer eye on everything though before we continue. Thor's decision was an unexpected one, and we can't risk making such hind-sighted assumptions again. It could easily be our downfall."

Clint merely nodded in agreement, it was only a matter of time before things stop flowing so smoothly.

* * *

**Yeah, I had planned for Thor to side with Steve. But this flowed more smoothly. I prefer this. Equal intelligence on both sides. **

**Has anyone else been seeing those DeadPool commercials? To be very honest, DeadPool intimidates me because he's such a psycho and unpredictable more of the time. But it looks... Interesting. **


	17. Phase Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Phase Three

Bruce stared silently across the lab at Tony, listening in pure silence as the dark haired, glowing chest, philanthropist ranted on and on to the usually mellow man and JARVIS. The doctor couldn't help but shuffle uncomfortably from foot to foot, listening to Tony as he ranted on and on, about what he wasn't sure. Tony's rants would go off in one tangent, veer back on course about what he was really upset about, then get completely off topic again. It was like a speeding car skidding on ice and you're trying to keep it going straight.

This conflict did nothing but put Bruce at odds with his friends, with the people he was trusting, because it made him anxious and nervous. Not in frustration, not in any angry way that could cause him to Hulk out, but because he didn't want to lose his friends. He didn't want to lose the supportive relationship he had developed with them all, the trust they had all formed. He couldn't bring himself to side with anyone, but he found himself completely at odds with Tony's extremist reaction. He understood everyone was upset about this, but he also knew that Coulson had his reasons. Maybe it was the same reason Bruce had no contact with old, pre-accident colleagues and friends. And maybe it was completely different. They all deserved to get their answers, but in a calm environment. Nothing good came from hostility.

"... Who the hell does he think he is?" Bruce frowns, unsure if Tony was referring to Steve or Coulson. Honestly, the tangents were flickering between the two so inconsistently that the man lost track.

"Please give it a rest Tony," Bruce pleaded softly, "Just please give it a rest."

"But Bruce!" Tony threw down the ruler he had been gripping in his hand, the smacking noise it made making the other scientist jump. He was just about to start up all over again and the mere thought of it made Bruce snap.

"Don't Bruce me!" He seethed, closing his eyes. He practiced his breathing exercises, keeping the Other Guy contained so he didn't accidentally destroy the lab, "Just give it a break!"

"But-but the betrayal! The betrayal Bruce!"

"I'm sure Agent Coulson had a reason, whatever it may be, to keep us in the dark. Just because we aren't happy about it doesn't mean we need to blow a fuse, I'm sure if we all just sat down then-"

Bruce was interrupted by the sound of something crashing to the floor, and he stared at the upturn table resting right next to Tony. The other man stared at Bruce, eyes wide and fists clenched tightly that he wasn't quite sure what was happening. Had Bruce struck a nerve? Was Tony having a panic attack? What was happening?

"Tony?"

"How could you?" Tony scowled angrily, staring at Bruce with eyes dark and fearful with betrayal. It was a look that Bruce had never witnessed on Tony's face before and deeply unsettled him. The billionaire continued, "We're science bros! Science Bros! We back each other's ideas and decisions and you rather side with Steve than with me!"

"Tony you're letting your emotions cloud your judgement!" Bruce tried to remain calm, he really did, but Tony was starting to really hurt him. The one time they don't agree on something it blows epically out of proportions. Was this some kind of telenovela or something? "I understand you are angry and upset that no one told you Coulson is alive but you need to consider it from the other perspective. You need to-"

"What perspective Banner?" Tony demanded, "In what perspective does it make this right?"

"That's not what I was saying!"

"Then what are you saying?"

Bruce grit his teeth in frustration, his fingers curled halfway into fists. Tony could see the way his jaw tensed as he raised his hands to his head, miming the action of grabbing at his hair but bit actually doing it. The area around Bruce's eyes were starting to turn green.

* * *

"'Tasha," The woman groaned at the gentle call, turning over on her side so her back faced the pestering archer. She was in the midst of sleeping, an act that the two assassins refused to disturb or interrupt for one another if they could help it. But the stubborn archer continued, "'Tasha, Nat wake up."

A mumbled response followed, though it was totally incomprehensible gibberish. The archer sighed, prayed very silently in his head, and tore the warm blanket off of in a quick swipe. The red head gave an infeminine snarl, turning to lash out at the archer. But Clint quickly grabbed hold of her by the wrist, blanket falling to the floor.

"What the fuck Barton?" Natasha snarled, narrowing her eyes at him. She struggled to break free from his grasp so she could kill him when he said very quietly.

"Loki is in our kitchen."

Her composure smoothed out quietly, from rage to calm and he released her hands. She moved very quietly towards her door, not at all worried that the Asgardian was about to see her in her little black shorts and dark grey tank top which hugged her body comfortably. She wasn't concerned about how she looked or what the man saw, if he was here then it must be important.

Loki was sprawled across their couch, his long legs hovering in the air as he tilted his head all the way back to stare at them. His dark black, his dark inky black hair, swept out underneath him and it was a sight that she found disturbingly uncharacteristic of the man before her.

"I must say you both are doing a marvelous job," Loki's lips stretched into a smile, one that made Clint think of the devious Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. The evil Asgardian, if he could be called that, stared them down with his dark eyes and continued, "The tension is just thickening, waiting for an explosion to release it all."

"It could explode at any moment of course," Clint felt the need to remind Loki, watching him as the man's eyes stared at Natasha, taking in the sight of the vulnerable looking assassin. But they both knew that was far from the truth.

"All you can do now is merely watch and make sure nothing interrupts it. The conflict has a mind of it's own now, rational thinking is required to diffuse the situation but quite frankly, only you two seem to have it. The monster and Captain will succumb to frustration too quickly in a confrontation."

Both assassins could merely nod, then Natasha spoke up, "What now then if we're just taking a back seat?"

"You wait, I have acquired my army but now we must wait for the perfect opportunity to enact revenge," It was some comfort to the assassins to know that the Index had been some help to Loki when the list was useless to everyone else.

"How will we know the perfect opportunity has arised," Clint asked. Loki merely smirked at his question.

"You will know Agent Barton. I assure you, you both will know."

Without another word, Loki gave them a charming grin and disappeared from the room. He left Natasha and Clint alone, standing in the living room with no idea whatsoever when the army was coming and when this entire mission would be over. They turned to look at each other, blue eyes staring at one another. Their contacts weren't in, the truth of who they were truly loyal to at the moment out in the open in that tiny little room.

"I thought you said he was in the kitchen."

* * *

Steve looked up when he heard someone enter the communal living room, and turned from reading his book to the scientist begrudgingly enter the room. An aura of anger and frustration edged off of Bruce and Steve sat warily on the edge of his seat seeing how Bruce clenched his fists, the knuckles green. He didn't want to provoke Bruce or make it any worse, but Steve's concern was too great to be ignored.

"Everything ok Bruce?"

"I don't want to talk about it," His voice was an octave or two deeper than usual and Steve merely nodded, watching as Bruce did his breathing exercises and settled himself into control. And even though Bruce hadn't said what happened down in the labs, Steve had a very good idea about what happened.

* * *

**End of Chapter 17, and yeah... This story is coming closer and closer to an end. At least the Hulk hadn't gotten unleashed, that would have been too dangerous. And I doubt Tony would have been able to truly help.**

**New DeadPool Movie coming out in almost six or seven days! Yay! And Agent Carter is back :D **

**Please Review, Favorite, and Follow. I'm honestly trying to think of what my next Avengers Story should be. **


	18. The Signal

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: The Signal

Never, in the history of ever, had Avengers Tower been so disturbingly silent. Even before the Avenger's moved in, Stark Towers was filled with the erratic, spontaneous ruckus of Tony blowing something up in his lab or rocking out to Black Sabbath. Silence never existed in the building until this day. It didn't last long of course. Silence, even in the best of circumstances, never lasted long.

It had otherwise been a very silent day, leaving the assassins with more time than they knew what to do with. It was quite and peaceful and had the assassins not been being controlled by Loki, they would be enjoying it as best they could. But since they were being controlled, the two were too aware of their surroundings and waiting for everything to implode. That, and for Loki's signal.

So they sat around, pretending to be occupied with some video game or book to read, waiting in silent anticipation for something to happen. Natasha was very quiet, watching out the window as the city went about it's day without any clue of the chaos going on amongst it's heroes. Clint was reading a book, something they had picked up undercover once in Guatemala. And then they heard the growing argument, the shouting as their companions quickly approached the living room. Natasha sighed, closing her eyes and counting swiftly to three as the door slid open.

"Seize your arguing!" Thor's voice boomed as they entered, "Why are we even hesitating about this? What is there to discuss?"

"Thor we can't just raid a S.H.I.E.L.D. base," Steve's patience was fading, something Clint couldn't help but be amused with. The archer tilted his head curiously to look back at the arguing heroes, "For one thing you wouldn't even know where to go and find it! We could cause some serious trouble for Coulson and his agents, draw unnecessary attention and-"

"Bullshit Steve," Tony snapped, "But I expect nothing more from you, being too focused on finding some ghost of a man instead of what's right in front of us! COULSON IS ALIVE DAMN IT AND DON'T YOU WANNA KNOW?"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE NEED TO DROP EVERYTHING AND COMPROMISE THE SAFETY OF WHO KNOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE!"

"THIS TRICKERY MUST BE RIGHTED!" Thor bellowed, wanting to be heard over the shouting. The Asgardian tightened his hold on his hammer and looked around at his fellow squabbling avengers. Clint and Natasha winced at his shouting in particular, watching the scene unfold.

From behind the arguing trio, Bruce sat at the island counter and merely waited patiently for the arguing to die down and for a perfect opportunity to present itself so he may calmly join in. Surrounding himself with yelling, violent, loud people did nothing more but set him on edge and poke the bear, to say the least. The arguing stirred the Hulk and made it harder to discern his own thoughts from the angry, smashing monster sweeping inside of him. Unfortunately for Bruce, the arguing just got louder and louder. It was giving Natasha a serious headache. She didn't think she could take it any longer, and neither could Clint.

"Could you jackasses please take this somewhere else?" Clint demanded, not screaming but his voice loud enough to cut through the arguing. For a brief moment it fell silent and Natasha dared to let out a slow breath of relief.

And then the silence was gone, evaporating in the air as Tony retorted to the archer, "I'm sorry, is this your tower?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything Tony?" Bruce shouted, defending Clint. The scientist had been set off completely when Tony brought up who exactly owned the tower and the fact that he let them all live here for free. Friends didn't hold things like that over each other's head.

Before the noise level could exceed what it was before, Natasha clambered to her feet and, with Clint in tow, left the living room before either of them could be pulled into it.

* * *

"Are you really sure you don't mind Steve?"

The two stood at the front doors of Avenger's Tower, one of them holding a briefcase firmly by the handle and shuffling from foot to foot. But Steve stared down at him companion, understanding clear upon his face.

"Bruce, if getting out of the hot zone is what you need to do, then I support the decision. If getting out of this tower and getting somewhere quiet so you can think clearly will help then do it."

Was it wise or ideal for Steve if Bruce left the tower? No, but Steve understood that the hostile environment wouldn't do any of them well, especially Bruce who needed the exact opposite. Steve wasn't planning on staying around the tower any longer, deciding to follow some more leads on Bucky. He was done sitting around and arguing with Tony, trading verbal blows with the billionaire and god.

"Bruce, do what you need to do," Steve reassured, "I'm not planning in staying around here any longer. Gonna go tail some leads."

Bruce nodded, personally thinking it would be unwise for Steve to go after Bucky alone but didn't say anything. Steve had enough to worry about and Bruce didn't want to start any kind of arguing with the super soldier. Besides Steve was smart, the man knew not to go charging into fights alone. Or, Bruce hoped Steve was smart enough to ask for help when it was needed.

"Keep in touch alright Bruce?" Steve asked, to which the scientist nodded.

* * *

"So," Clint started, "Bruce flew the coop and Steve's leaving soon to look for Bucky."

They sat back in their living room, listening to the conversation through JARVIS and watching as the security footage played on their tv as it happened. The archer handed Natasha a bottle of beer to help assuage the aching headache everyone's arguing had given her. He plopped down next to her and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table.

"Loki's not going to get a better moment than this," Natasha hummed, "We all know that."

"We've got a fully stocked kitchen. No ones got the balls to wander onto our floor uninvited. JARVIS can easily divert people from the elevator. I say we stay cooped up in here and wait, tell everyone we got called away by Hill or something for a mission. Something from Coulson? Extract ourselves from this before everyone starts to wonder why we aren't so mad or angry about what they're arguing about."

"It's a wonder they haven't turned on us with all the accusations going around."

"They probably think we're internalizing it, trying to act cool and professional. Or they either haven't notice or don't give a crap."

"How eloquently put," Natasha sarcastically remarked, eyes flicking away from him and towards the screen again. They sat in silence for a few moments, marveling at how their plan took on a life of it's own. But then it was broken as something twisted disturbingly in Clint's abdomen.

"Nat."

"Mhm?"

"We're going to kill people."

The Black Widow lowered the bottle from her lips and turned her entire body so she was primarily focused on him. The sentence turned itself over in her mind as she considered what he said. It was true, they were going to kill people. In a way they both subconsciously knew people would get hurt and die, but saying it aloud was something different. It brought a new perspective to everything.

"We are."

"And we're going to get other people killed."

Those people from the Index. Those people who they didn't know but sold out to Loki, their master. But they were willing to come, Loki didn't need to convince all of them with his glowing stick of destiny, there were people who wanted this.

"Yes."

"What if we-" Clint stopped, "What if this is our last adventure?"

"It's not."

"But-"

Natasha dropped the beer bottle she was holding, not caring how it sloshed over her pants and onto the cushion, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to stare at her. Their eyes held one another for a few moments and when she spoke, it was in such a stern voice that Clint could have sworn she sounded a bit like a drill sergeant.

"This is not the end. This will not be our end do you understand me Clint?" She brought their faces closer, "We are not going to die. We have gone through too much shit for it to end here. Understand? This is not the end of us."

Clint stared at her for a long moment, their foreheads gently touching. He wanted to look anywhere else but at her but her eyes were captivating him.

"This isn't the end of us," Clint repeated. He felt childishly foolish now for even thinking such thing. But he had remembered the Battle of New York and how everything came together back then. How the Hulk destroyed Loki and how they managed to win against the odds. But there weren't the same two events. This would be different. Clint felt foolish for thinking it wouldn't be.

* * *

There was no dinner set up in the communal kitchen like always, leaving everyone to scramble and prepare their own meals. Natasha and Clint took this as a sign that Steve was leaving tonight, sooner they initially predicted. They expected him to leave early the next morning and at least tell someone where he was going. Sure, they found a note tapped to their door when they returned from the kitchen starving, but they were expecting him to actually verbally tell someone.

They didn't know where exactly Steve flew off too but couldn't bring themselves to worry. Worrying about Steve wasn't part of their plan. They were just tasked with waiting in silence for the signal and any following orders from Loki. Orders that could arrive within the next day to two weeks.

Natasha went to sleep, stomach full of spaghetti, peacefully. Clint was having a hard time resting, waiting and expecting for Loki to contact them. Natasha had rolled her eyes at him during dinner, telling him that he needed to relax and patiently wait. Staying up all night waiting, fidgeting in bed because you were anxious, wasn't gonna help. But Clint couldn't help it, the warm blankets couldn't lure him to bed until he was at peace of mind, and the only way for that to happen was when he got orders from Loki.

Clint sighed tiredly, contemplating giving up and trying to sleep. He was about to close his eyes, squirming to find that magical, comfortable position in bed when he saw something. A gold glow took up the far wall, bathing him in it's unearthly light. The same thing was happening in Natasha's room, stirring her awake.

The light began to fade, leaving behind glowing gold words against the wall for them bith to read. Clint started to smile, the anxiety of waiting disappearing as he felt sleep begin to claim him.

The message continued to glow as he closed his eyes.

_The time has come. Get the other avengers out of the tower. _

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun! Well, whatcha thinking? Everyone is a bit screwed wouldn't you agree?**

**Also, DEADPOOL came out today! For anyone who's seen it, no spoilers, how is it? No spoilers. Honestly. Don't be that douche.**

**Please review, follow, and/or favorite. I happily anticipate them.**


	19. The Trap

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: The Trap

Sipping her coffee, Natasha leaned forward on their couch dressed in her trademark Black Widow suit. She sat, listening to the sounds of Clint stumbling in his bedroom as he dressed. It was extremely weird for them, when they had the time to get dressed they (and by they it was mostly Clint) stumbled and struggled to get dressed. Yet, when they were pressed for time they had no trouble whatsoever getting changed in a matter of seconds. Neither of them knew how to explain it, it was just a phenomenon some people will never understand.

"Hurry up Barton!" She shouted from where she sat, sipping some more coffee.

"Coming!" He shouted back to her and then she heard the unmistakeable thud of something, more likely someone, falling. She couldn't help but snicker as, a few seconds later, Clint came in rubbing his elbow.

Seeing his partners sly smirk, he narrowed his eyes at her as he goes to get some coffee, "JARVIS? Remember what you gotta do?"

"Yes sir. But are you sure this will work?"

"Don't doubt us JARVIS, we know what we're doing."

* * *

Tony internally groaned, watching as Thor struggled to not destroy another one of his toasters in order to toast his Poptarts. But judging from the dents being made already, Thor's valiant efforts would be for nought. When the Asgardian first moved in after returning from Asgard, they had to replace toasters on a daily basis. Eventually Thor got the handle of it, only creating minor dents in the appliance, but Tony was rarely in the kitchen at breakfast with the others. He was in the lab and sort of neglected the toaster and Thor using it when he wasn't required to buy new ones. He just assumed Thor didn't want the Poptarts toasted anymore and gave up on it.

"I apologize Man of Iron," Thor rumbled, "The Captain usually assisted me with using this toaster."

That made a lot of sense, Tony waved off Thor, "Don't sweat it buddy. I got the money to replace it."

Thor nodded slowly, turning back to the toaster and leaving Tony to his thoughts. The billionaire felt a painful stab in his stomach at the thought of Steve. He couldn't believe that the guy got up in the middle of the day and just left both him and Bruce flying the coop without even a warning. Tony didn't care for what they were arguing for but he hated that they dismiss his hospitality and any actual concern he has for them, he didn't want them to die. Especially because they weren't thinking straight and let their emotions get in the way.

He glanced over at Thor as the man took his toasted Poptarts from the mangled toaster. Tony forced a small smile at the man because he couldn't be mad at Thor for ruining his first toaster in roughly six months to a year (Tony lost track of time.). Tony wasn't one to get mad over that. He just drank his coffee as Thor munched on his junk food breakfast.

"Mr. Stark, I regret to inform you that I am picking up a very worrisome distress signal from Captain Rogers."

"The Captain is in trouble?" Thor spoke, though Tony didn't answer him. It was JARVIS who answered.

"Yes, I am receiving his coordinates now."

"I shall go retrieve the Captain."

* * *

Thor was not as stupid or oblivious as most people expected him to be. People handled him like a child sometimes because he genuinely did not understand things about Earth, and how could he when he was raised on Asgard for most of his life. Earth was different, people were not born with power like Asgardians. And powers were almost taboo amongst the innocent, weaker humans. He could understand where they came from, why they felt that way. Some were likely jealous, others didn't understand.

Thor was not stupid. He knew that Tony and Steve were likely never going to make up and be friends again. He was aware that the Avengers were in a dire state and he understood that some of it was his fault. He let his emotions get the better of him and he was too prideful to say it. He wanted his questions answered immediately. He also knew that Steve was a good man and he didn't deserve whatever trouble he was facing. Thor was a loyal friend. He wanted his companions to be safe, even if they didn't all agree.

He did not know if Tony agreed. He couldn't say to be certain because the man was a mystery to the god. Tony held secrets and grudges and was as stubborn as a mule. He knew Tony was not a cruel hearted man to wish death upon someone who had once been a friend, on someone like Steve who didn't agree with him. Tony just wanted to be agreed with. So did Thor. But Thor didn't know if Tony going to help Steve would be any more helpful. After the spats they have been having, Thor would be much better for the job. Thor had no issues with the Captain, and if he did they could easily be neglected until they were safe.

"What about the Hawk and Spider?" Tony asked mostly to JARVIS and Thor. Thor noted that he wasn't acting heartless, but hid his concern well.

"Agents Barton and Romanov had been called last minute to a mission by Director Coulson last night. It was rather urgent."

"This shall not take long," Thor says, "I shall handle it."

* * *

"Thor's taking the bait," Natasha hummed as she watched the Asgardian fly through the sky. She smiled slyly to herself as he disappeared from sight and asked, "How long do you think it's gonna take for him to get to DC?"

Clint hummed in thought before answering, "I say fifteen minutes exactly. That's only if he doesn't get lost though."

Natasha hummed in agreement, "And more time to actually find him in the big city. Give it ten minutes JARVIS and send Tony the call alright?"

"As you wish madam."

Clint stood beside her and gazed out the window, his eyes watching the mob of people wandering the sidewalks and clustering around the tower dressed in cosplay. He didn't say anything as he just watched them all, a neutral observer to daily life.

* * *

The sound of a blowtorch almost drowned out JARVIS as he tried to get Tony's attention. The sound of the flame melting the metal together and joining them together, a sound similar to a strong blowing wind concentrated on one spot, made JARVIS second fiddle.

"Sir."

"What JARVIS?" Tony snapped, immediately regretting the tone he was giving to the AI. JARVIS was nothing but a patient saint with him, the utmost loyal and caring individual in the tower who only wanted what was best for Tony. Of course, he wasn't aware JARVIS was working against him but that was besides the point.

"You have a very urgent phone call sir," JARVIS answered.

"Send it to voicemail, whatever it is Pepper can deal with it."

"Sir, it's Doctor Banner."

Tony paused and looked up, concerned about his science bro. Sure they got into a really nasty argument and they weren't agreeing right now, but Tony really cared about the guy. It hurt that he left without even saying much of a goodbye to Tony and Tony was extremely scared that something really bad was happening.

"Put it on speaker!"

_"Tony?" _The billionaire froze when he heard heavy breathing come from the other line.

"Bruce what's wrong?"

_"I'm in trouble. I can't explain right now but I need help. I'm sorry I left, I'm sorry but-but right now I need help."_

"Where are you?"

* * *

"How sweet, how loyal," Natasha droned on as she watched the red and gold glint in the sun as it sped through the air. He disappeared and she stretched, "JARVIS, let Loki's men in alright?"

"As you wish."

Natasha turned, and spoke without even looking at the taller, skinnier, but no less stronger otherworldly man. She merely flicked the safety off of one of her guns, "They will return the moment they realize that no one is in danger. What's your plan?"

"My army will hold them off, you both I want with me. What I have planned for New York will send it's mortals begging."

The two assassins nodded and followed Loki out of their living room. From outside, a flow of people marched towards the Tower, pushing the doors opened. They all were of different shakes and sized but wore dark green hoodies or coats who their heads and faces hidden from view. They marched right into the building and began to spread out along the floors, silent. Some of them had blue eyes, eyes as blue as the ones Natasha and Clint were sporting, and some were normal, there on their own free will. As the assassins marched with Loki, they wiped away their own contacts and continued onward.

Unfortunately, JARVIS and the assassins forgot about one very important person that they should have gotten out of the tower. Maria Hill, who was hiding in her bedroom the moment she saw the floor of people infiltrating the tower from the windows.

The woman kept her door locked and immediately set to work in trying to call Tony, a gun in her hand for when things started to take a turn for the worse.

* * *

"What do you want Hill?"

Tony was still flying around, dressed in the trademark red and gold coloring of his armor. Everyone was looking up at him, their excited faces blending together beneath him as he scanned the crowd for Banner. Where the hell was Banner?

_"Your tower is being infiltrated Stark, get your tin ass back here!"_

"What?" He asked confused, slowing down when he sees the familiar level headed doctor he knows so well duck down into a side alley to avoid him. He turned and followed at Bruce, "Banner! Banner!"

_"Tony what the hell are you doing? Where did you go?"_

"BRUCE!" Completely ignoring the woman on the other line, he landed in front of Bruce. Bruce stared at Tony with wide eyes and took one step back as he looked at the scientist behind the Iron Man suit. Hill was still shouting at Tony, trying to get his attention. But Tony dismissed them.

"What the hell Banner? I thought you were in trouble."

"What gave you that impression?" Bruce asked confused, sounding a bit defensive as he stood tense. Tony couldn't help but notice that he looked ready to bolt at any minute.

"You called me."

"No," To prove to Tony he had not called him at all, Bruce showed him his call history on his cellphone. Tony scowled, about to open his mouth and argue that Bruce could have just deleted it but Bruce interrupted him, "Tony, do I look in danger?"

"No, but if you aren't in danger than why..." His eyes grew wide as his thoughts turned back to Hill shouting in his ear and said a bit panicky, "Hill?"

_"Stark!"_ She hissed, her tone soft and strict, _"The Tower is being infiltrated. They know I'm here. Get your tin covered ass over here now!"_

"Ok," He gulped hearing a gun go off on the other end and quickly got out, "Banner and I will get there really quick. Don't die!"

He hung up on Hill, staring at Bruce. Bruce stared back, having heard every word he spoke to Hill like he was addressing her. He raised an eyebrow at Stark.

"Bruce and I?"

"I'll explain on the way."

* * *

Steve leaned against his rented car, eating the subway sandwich he had bought for lunch. He glanced up as the clouds grew a darker grey above him and began to frown. While he wasn't a meteorologist, the captain knew the brewing of a storm when he saw it and the sky didn't look at all like this was a natural storm. For one thing that practically materialized out of no where on him and rumbled ominously of rain and thunder. It was extremely familiar to Steve, given that it usually entitled the entrance of his godly friend, but Steve wasn't sure if he was just making blatant assumptions or not.

But then Steve saw him, he saw the very small sight of red flickering in the distant sky. He knew it was Thor's cape, and that only proved to be more accurate and it came closer and closer to him with blonde hair and a hammer too. Steve didn't drop his sandwich, giving an exasperated sigh and the god dramatically landed on the middle of the road before him, thunder booming and lightning crackling around him. The moment Thor's feet touched the ground, the dark clouds started to disappeared.

"Thor," He didn't waste a moment as the god straightened, "What are you doing here?"

Thor stared at him puzzled, tilting his head at Steve, "I do not understand. You are not in danger?"

"No, why?"

"Stark and I were told you were in danger. You let off a beacon of distress."

"No," Steve scowled, becoming puzzled and suspicious, "No I didn't. I was getting lunch and doing research. Why would I send a false alarm?"

"I do not know Captain, but I find this extremely troubling. If you are in no danger than why would we think that?"

Before Steve could answer Thor and tell him that Steve knew as little as Thor, the Cap's phone began to ring. The two shared a suspicious glance as Steve reached into his pocket to retrieve it, staring at the device, "It's Hill," He immediately pressed accept call and held the phone to his ear.

"Cap."

_"Where are you?"_ From the other line, he could hear a sense of urgency in the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents voice and snapped to attention.

"Hill? What's wrong?"

_"Cap, where are you?"_

"Thor and I are in DC Hill. What's going on? What's wrong? Is someone hurt?"

_"The tower is being infiltrated,"_ There was a pause on the other end and there was a loud thumping heard and then a few bangs of gun fire,_ "Cap, whoever or whatever sent Thor to you and Stark to Banner is playing you. The tower is being infiltrated."_

Steve felt his chest constrict a bit, hearing the sounds he knew to be the chaos of fighting over the phone. He cleared his throat though and spoke loudly, "Hold the fort down Hill, we're on our way."

Steve then hung up and turned to Thor, explaining the situation as he reached I to his car for his shield and suit. He stared at Thor and asked, "How fast can you fly?"

* * *

**There is the end to Chapter 19. Poor Hill. I hope no one kills her. I hope I don't decide to kill of someone important. I just watched Ana Jarvis get shot like Skye in Agents of Shield (season one) and honestly, seeing Jarvis so distraught was killing me. And seriously, WHY MUST EVERYTHING GO TO SHIT FOR PEGGY?**

**Finally a finished chapter! Please review, follow, and/or favorite. **


	20. The Storm

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty: The Storm

"Shit shit shit."

Hill dove behind the communal living room's tipped over couch, flattening herself down as a streak of orange hot flames blazed above her for a few minutes. Her breath hitched in her throat as the scent of slightly burnt leather wafted through her nose. Inhaling swiftly three times, she straightened from her hiding spot and shot twice at the hostiles. Then she dove back down as another stream of fire seared forwards and ate up the air between them. A few soft curses came streaming out into the silence as she filled her gun up again with more ammunition, listening intently to footsteps and firing whenever she saw someone.

_'Where the hell is my backup?' _

Then, as if it were an act of an all powerful being, everyone looked up when they heard a few fifty foot sheets of pane glass window shatter, bringing in a streaking red and gold blur for a second. Iron Man rammed into a figure, the enhanced human who had been shooting fire at Hill, and threw them into the wall with a sharp crack. Whether or not they were just unconscious was not Hill's concern as she swung over the upended couch and shot at the others. Between her and Iron Man's repulsors, they were dispatching the super humans and sending them into a retreat. They disappeared down the hall, and the moment there was a seize fire Hill relaxed a bit.

"About time," She frowns, "Where's Banner?"

"On the roof, psyching himself up before he let's the Other Guy come out to play. What the hell is going on?"

"Honestly," Hill ran a hand across her face, breathing a bit too deeply from the surge of adrenaline coursing through her, "I'm not sure. After I see you streaking off across the sky, I see this hard of cloaked and hooded people entering the tower. I thought JARVIS was disabled because he hadn't said anything but halfway through my call to you he must have warned the intruders I was here."

"Warned the intruders? Are you suggesting that JARVIS is a traitor?"

"Uh, yeah. I've tried calling Barton and Romanov, can't get a hold of them. I'm worried."

"Why?" He watched at Hill's eyes widened and shock filled across her face, not realizing what she was translating his words as, "They're on a mission. Can't have us calling them as a distraction."

"What?" Hill frowns, "No. They're still in the tower. I didn't send them off on any mission, Coulson never called them out."

"Well, if they're not on a mission, why did JARVIS lie to me. And why did he tell me Bruce was in trouble. He fabricated an entire phone call."

A serious, emotionless mask fell into place on Hill's face and she cocked her gun, "Something is extremely wrong. I don't know what, I don't know why JARVIS lied about Nat and Clint, about Bruce, and no doubt Steve, but we need to take control of the tower again and find out who planned this."

As she stepped out of the living room, hellbent on stopping a crisis before it started, she heard a terrifying but reassuring roar.

* * *

Gazing down at the city below, Loki stood on the balcony of Natasha and Clint's floor. On his right was Clint and his left was Natasha, the two of them glancing up at the dark, greying clouds beginning to thicken overhead. They were worried that it was a signal Thor was arriving to the party, neither aware whatsoever of the soft Norse words Loki was murmuring.

The temperature began to drop, drawing goosebumps from the exposed skin of every person outside. Loki turned his face to the sky and watched as a few flurries descended downward onto his face, sticking in his black hair. The assassins stare up at the sky with wide eyes, looking at each other.

"What are you doing?"

"Creating a storm," Loki never took his eyes from the clouds, "A storm unlike anything Midgard has ever seen which will send it's people begging on their knees for me to stop it. A storm that is only seen on the wintery realm of Jotunheim."

Clint nodded, the temperature dropping to a point where they could start seeing their breath in a faint, misty form. Loki went back to murmuring Norse underneath his breath, eyes trained on the sky now to strengthen the storm.

* * *

"Stark! On your right!"

Turning, the genius managed to catch a thick fist hurtling towards him. The man growled, at first angrily but then in pain as Iron Man started to crack his hand, twisting the man's arm. The man, a tall and bulky guy who had an entire dragon tattoo take up both arms, began to yell in pain. Iron Man kneed him painfully in the lower abdomen and shoved him down hard into the ground. Without another glance, the metal suited man turned to fight another super human. When the bulky man rose to crush Iron Man, Hill shot him down and turned her sights onto another threat.

Hill was deeply unsettled, recognizing some of the gifted individuals they were knocking unconscious and injuring. How did, whoever was leading them, find them all? How? SHIELD had protected them, had them somewhere safe and under the radar where most people would never think to look. She didn't understand.

She sparred a glimpse outside and saw that there were white flakes descending from dark freezing grey clouds, a crackling sound of thunder snapping everyone to attention. The woman didn't spend much time gazing out the window, too distracted with taking out another gifted human, but there was a faint, darker outline speedily approaching the tower.

Thor sped through the biting cold, unfazed as he shot through the sky. In one hand he clutched his hammer, in the other was Steve. They shot through the sky, adding a little thunder to the impending snow storm. Their image grew bigger and as the tower grew before them, Steve braced himself with his shield as they came tearing into the middle of the fight, destroying a window. Both men were instantaneously on their feet, fighting off the super powered people.

"About time."

"We'd have been here sooner, Thor nearly stopped in Hoboken to see a bakery and get something."

"It is a bakery which has it's own television program!" Thor frowns, "But it is good we hadn't. This is no earthly snow my friends."

"How can you tell? It looks like normal snow."

"Trust me on this Stark, this is not normal weather of Midgard."

Before Tony could argue, there came another Hulk-ish roar, not that far away. Everyone turned towards it, Avengers and intruders alike, and listened to the thundering footsteps that followed as well as an annoyed roar. What followed next was the tiny pew pew noise that came with the tower's security lasers, JARVIS droning on for the Hulk to halt. Hill moved towards the wall, seeing the enormous shadow moving closer and closer to them, the third roar making them all go deaf.

Hell broke lose the moment Hulk entered, roaring as the laser security system followed him and started to shoot at not just him but at the other Avengers. Everyone started to shove each other as they backed away from Hulk, trying to keep out of the range of the lasers and take out their enemies. Hulk roared as a superhuman plunged knife like nails into his skin. They barely dug in and only stung slightly, irritating the gamma monster so much that he swung at them and sent them flying across the room. Hill shot at the lasers, trying to take them out first.

"Stark!?"

"On it!" Tony frowns, trying to disable the security system. However JARVIS blocked such use.

_"I am sorry sir, but I cannot allow you to do that."_

"Damn," He muttered, "Cap, I need you to buy me some time and keep these guys off of me!"

He nodded, throwing his shield like a frisbee and knocking back four guys. It came flying back, like a boomerang, exactly as Natasha had taught him a few months back. He spun, swinging the shield right into another adversary. But that woman caught it in her grip and suddenly twisted the shield, flipping the patriotic colored man onto his back. Her foot came down towards his nose and was only stopped by his quick reflexes bringing the shield down to protect him. He then rolled away and onto his knees, sprinting the rest of his way to his feet as he charged at her.

Meanwhile, as he tried to be mindful of the chaos around him, Tony was hacking right back into JARVIS to reset him. But as he delve deeper into JARVIS' programming, he realized that there was something very wrong with his trusted, favorite AI. He spotted the new coding, the virus like installments preventing JARVIS from following his orders from Tony. He immediately worked to erase the coding the Black Widow had installed, fixing the hole in the servers that left JARVIS cut off absolutely from his master. Tony patched it up as best he could from the armor, but the relationship between JARVIS and the suit wasn't meant to allow easy access into JARVIS' processes, whatever work he did wouldn't be his best.

"Tony?" Steve was pushing against the girl, his arm crooked and braced against his shield. It was the only thing between them as they pushed against each other, a bit of sweat glimmering along their foreheads or brow.

The lasers suddenly stopped, for a brief moment, before stun lasers shot out at the super human intruders. Steve sighed when he saw the woman collapse unconscious at his feet and turned to Tony.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked, voice hesitant as he tested his computer pal.

_"Yes sir?"_

Tony smiled beneath his face plate and said, in his usual jaunty attitude, "Do you mind telling us what happened? Where did that other coding come from?"

_"Agent Romanov sir." _

"Romanov?" Hill turned to look around at the others, seeing everyone excluding the Hulk standing stock still and tense. The Hulk, he stood breathing heavily as he looked around for someone to try and fight him in a rather discreet way for a giant green muscle machine.

_"Yes."_

"Why the hell would she do that?"

_"Agents Romanov and Barton, like most of the unconscious intruders, are under the control of Loki sir. They have constructed the entire argument you all have been so focused on and employed me to unveil Agent Hill's secret conversations."_

"That explains the oddly familiar blue glow in many of our enemies eyes," Thor acknowledged, having thought the blue eyes were maybe an optical illusion, a trick, or something very common on the planet.

"But Natasha and Clint's eyes look completely normal."

_"Magical contact lenses to deceive you."_

"But Loki is on Asgard."

"Correction," Tony tells Thor, "He was on Asgard. And now he's in the tower where he used the two best spies S.H.I.E.L.D. had to play us. I don't know about you guys, but I'm rather pissed off.

* * *

Clint scowls, looking at Natasha as he sees the the static across their tv. She looks very grimly at it and flickers her gaze back to Loki. Clint nods and turned, disappearing off the balcony and into their room, going off to dispatch as many of the Avengers as possible and distract them. Natasha watched nervously, taping the earpiece they were wearing and listening intently to his faint footsteps and breathing. Beside her, Loki continued to mumble Norse as the sir grew colder and the snowflakes got thicker and bigger.

* * *

**Finished. **

**Agent Carter Finale tonight and Agents of SHIELD will be back next week. Yay right? It's all yay! And The Muppets have survived their first season! Fifteen episodes. It's honestly the end of this chapter. **

**Please review. Please favorite. Please follow. This story is almost over. I know I keep saying that but it's true! **


	21. Clint

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty One: Clint

His footsteps echoed softly across the hard flooring, Clint's eyes glancing back and forth constantly as he scanned the area around him. It bothered him that there was no one patrolling this floor, that whoever had been waiting on this floor likely ran to the fight or was taken out when the fight came to them. He had a foreboding knot within his stomach, predicting something unexpected.

Clint hated the unexpected.

A sudden creak from the floorboards, coming from just around the corner caused the archer to freeze, tense as he listened. He heard it again, louder, and drew an arrow from his quiver, notching it in place and drawing the bow string. He shuffled closer very cautiously, trying to not draw any attention towards his approach. Air went in silently through his nose and out the same way, deep breathes of refreshing air that helped steady his beating heart as adrenaline sharpened his senses.

A shriek from the flooring alerted Clint just a few seconds before the captain shot forward, a streak of blue. Clint released his arrow, watching as it hits the shield with a hollow clang and ricochets right into the wall. As the space between them quickly shrinks, Clint exchanges his bow for a knife and spins out of Steve's way. As Steve shoots past him, Clint makes a move to stab him within the shoulder, a vulnerable spot. As he brings his arm down though, two smaller hands grip his wrists, squeezing and twisting. His palm was suddenly facing the ceiling, and in response he swung his other hand out as a fist into Hill's face. There was a satisfying crack as red covered his knuckles and Hill stumbled back, right hand cupping a newly broken nose.

"Ahh," She groaned softly, trying to not make a big deal about the pain. It been a long time though since her last broken nose and she forgot how badly it hurt. And how much you could bleed from it.

Clint then turned to Steve, ducking as the soldier swung at him. The archer swept the taller mans legs out from underneath him and watched him fall onto his back like an unbalanced turtle. He raised his foot up to stomp on the defenseless man's chest but just as he brought it down, his foot connected to the impenetrable shield. As the archer's brow was brought to better and his features contorting into a silent howl of pain, Steve leapt back to his feet and shoved him back down with his shield while he hopped up and down on one leg.

The moment he fell, falling into his ass, Hill withdrew a blood stained hand from her face and wiped it on her leg. A red streak was left stained into the fabric as she leveled her gun at the archer, not wanting to kill him but fully prepared to. Clint was dangerous, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them. He stared at her, and leapt right off of his back. He rolled backwards onto his feet and straightened up, twirling the knife in his hand as he watched the two with the most serious expression Steve's ever witnessed.

"Clint..." The archer narrowed his gaze even further at the man as he used a stereotypical low and calm tone. He heard that kind of talk before and it brought up unfavorable memories. The archer lunged with the grace and power of a cheetah, thrusting the knife out for a strike.

Steve held up his shield again to protect himself, the knife letting out a teeth grinding shriek like noise as it made contact. But as Clint brought his arm back, he saw that blade was bent accordion style. Tossing it aside, he moved to back up against at the corner his enemies had arrived from and reached for his bow. As he approached the corner, his hand closed around the sleek bow and another hand clasped tightly around his left shoulder. He recognized the strong, sturdy grip to be Thor's and he immediately swung his right elbow into the Asgardian's face. He caught the taller man in the chin, a fair enough blow that allowed Clint to slip from his grasp. He moved away from them, breathing fast and deeply as his eyes flickered constantly among them.

"Archer," Thor spoke soft now too, though Clint knew it was to use the appropriate level of volume Earth has ruled as the inside voice. He was trying to keep his voice down. Clint continued to glare, holding out his bow with an arrow at the ready.

"Clint," Steve intervened, "Stand down. That's an-"

Steve didn't have a chance to finish before he fired the arrow at Hill, the only one of them who couldn't shield themselves or fling it away. Steve ran to shield her, and as he held the shield up before them, Clint smirked. He had predicted Steve's reaction dead on. Just before the arrow hit the metal, it exploded, beeping for only five seconds before they were thrown back into the wall. Hill hit the wall first and then Steve rammed right into her and the wall. Her nose roared in indescribable white hot pain and for a moment she genuinely couldn't breath. Steve was on top of her and then suddenly she was lying flat on her back, struggling to breath as she coughed and her eyes pricked with tears of pain from her nose. Steve was half on top of her, sprawled across her waist. They crashed through into an unused room, and suddenly the weight across her was gone and Steve was looking down at her concerned.

"Hill?"

The woman blinked, head pounding. She didn't verbally answer, trying to figure out what happened. The force of the explosion drove them back but because Steve had been do closely in front of her he was thrown right into her as they were forced through the wall. Blood ran freely down her nose and she couldn't bring herself to get up. She blinked up at the Captain while behind them, through the hole, the archer was getting a slight upper hand.

Thor was very hesitant to swing the hammer at Clint, for he feared that a single blow from the unearthly weapon would kill the controlled man before him. Clint avoided his swings with an few simple side steps, holding a long dagger like knife within his hands and used it to slash at Thor. A bright red line appeared, along with some stinging, on the inside of Thor's forearm. A slim trickle of blood followed, the same red substance staining the edge of the blade. It made Clint a bit more confident, seeing he was able to injure Thor, and lunged forward, wedging the blade between the plates of his armor and digging it deep into his skin.

Thor howled in shock at the pain and with his free hand threw Clint to the side. His hand found the hilt and very slowly he removed the bloody weapon from his person and tossed it aside. Steve was drawn back into the hallway, and as the man emerged, Clint pulled the arrow out from the wall and fired it a second time at the soldier. He smirked as it landed in Steve's shoulder, catching him off guard as his eyes were staring worriedly at Thor. But then the soldier spun around to stare at Clint seeing a new arrow already notched in his bow.

"Barton," Steve held his shield out in front of him. He felt a bit breathless, there was an ache within his sides he could only estimate from cracked rips and the arrow hurt, "Stand down. Or I will knock some sense into you."

"Really? That's your threat Cap?" It was the first sentence Clint uttered and it caught the two avengers off guard. Using that, Clint spun the arrow and caught Thor in the chest. The blonde Asgardian gasped, hand to his chest. Steve's vision went red with anger and he jumped at Clint, knocking the bow from his hands and swinging his shield right into the man's head.

Clint groaned, shocked and disoriented by what just happened and stumbled back into the wall. The force of the swing was enough to send his ear piece falling from him ear and into Steve's path. He blinked, his eyes flickering from the unnatural Tesseract blue to the normal stormy hue. But then the Tesseract blue came back and Steve gave him another blow to the head, a hollow clang echoing afterwards. As Steve pulled the shield away, standing at the ready to swing again, Clint crumbled to the ground. The blow had been hard enough to knock him unconscious and then Steve had noticed there was a slight crunch beneath his foot and stared down at the destroyed communication ear piece.

"Well done Captain."

Steve spun around, staring at Thor with the arrow still in his chest. The god's expression flickered into one of confusion as he watched the midgardian's face pale considerably, "Is there something the matter?"

"The-the arrow..."

"Yes? What of it?" Thor looked down at it and ripped it away from where it was lodged in his chest plate, "It did not pierce all the way through the armor my friend. Do not fear. I am not gravely injured. Lady Hill and yourself however, might be."

"I'm fine," Steve sighed, relieved that Thor wasn't dying. He stared down at Clint, "Think that snapped him out of it?"

"Oh yes. You hit him quite hard."

* * *

Blurry forms swam above the archers head as he slowly opened his eyes. At first, it was just colors and murky noises, but then the details sharpened intensely. There was this scary, searing pain going from the crook in his neck to his temples, memories and thoughts beginning to overlap and add to his suffering.

_'What happened?'_

The image of Natasha pinned to a wall by ice rose from the back of his mind, the ice having encased every square inch of her body save for her head and chest. Her arms and legs had been stretched out like she was in the midst of doing a vertical snow angel against the wall. Her lip had been busted and there was some blood dripping down her chin from it.

_'What happened?' _A sick sense of fear and foreboding swelled in Clint's chest and stomach. The sight of Loki tapping her with his magical glow stick, taking control of her, made him want to scream. Her eyes going totally black, no whites or pupils, for a few moments before glowing that eerie awful celestial blue. That bit of shock and fear in her green eyes as it was happening, and her stiff body relaxing underneath the ice.

"Clint?"

He blinked and turned his attention towards the figures standing above him. He saw the bright green Hulk, Tony with his armor on and faceplate off, Steve looking down at him with the arrow still in his shoulder, Thor with his head slightly tilted, and Hill leaning heavily against Thor.

"Shit."

"Uh, yeah!" Tony scowled, glaring at him with near hatred and loathing, "What the hell?"

"Easy Tony," Steve frowns, "Clint? What happened?"

"Do you remember seeing that news report about the German dude and Hydra?" Clint asked tentatively, watching as they all nodded, "Loki sort of beat us there. He killed all the guards and the dude, who by the way we were going to assassinate because he was Hydra. The guy had been waiting for us, he knew we were heading there. He had us frozen in place, and... He had his scepter and we couldn't fight it," Clint looked down and sighed, "We hacked into JARVIS, well Natasha did, so he wouldn't eat us out."

"You ratted Coulson out."

"You both knew about Coulson?" Tony nearly shrieked, making Hill wince a bit. Clint nodded though, guilty.

"It was all for the revenge mission."

"But where does all this snow come in?" Steve asked confused.

"Destroy New York, have the city on it's knees begging for mercy," Clint frowns, "Sheesh guys you're usually much smarter than that."

Steve extended his hand and helped him up frowning, "Sorry, we were more concerned by not being killed by you."

"Why were you both fighting?" Clint asked, just remembering that he was only fighting Steve, Hill, and Thor until he had been knocked out.

"Saving our strength to fight the Black Widow."

"No," Clint's voice was dead serious and his eyes narrowed, "Natasha's mine. You guys handle Loki."

"Are you sure Archer? You were hit fairly hard."

"Positive."

* * *

**Ok, so, this story is almost done. And I plan to delete my cross over story because... well, I lost passion for it. It isn't going anywhere. Not where I want it to. I'm trying to think of an idea for a new story either soon or after I finish this. I wanna do something with Agents of SHIELD, with the whole kids or de-aging thing. I have a finished de aging fic but that doesn't have the characters from a Season Two and current. Maybe something with Bobbi. **

**Ideas:**

**Bobbi gets de-aged, more season two geared. Like early season two before Skye got her powers. A Hunter/Bobbi story.**

**Ward, before season three, de aged and even though Coulson hates his ass, he can't punish a kid. Something about that. Insight on a young Ward.**

**There was Hunter being de-aged, but I got something Hunter centered right now. Maybe Hunter, Fitz, and Simmons, they go away to see their family and shit happens while they're gone.**

**Or,**

**A Huntingbird baby!**

**Or, a story about twin inhuman kids. Fraternal twins with powers based off of what Lincoln said about balance within the species.**

**Now have in mind, there isn't a total plot created to these. They're ideas. Please review though! Review. Tell me what you think!**

**HAPPY PI DAY**


	22. Natasha

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Two: Natasha

The buzz in her ear was deafening. There was nothing but static coming from her ear piece and a knot twisted in her. It came and went instantly as it came to mind that Clint and failed, she knew it deep down without needing any evidence, and exhaled sharply. For a few seconds she closed her eyes and turned things over in her head. She needed to be here to protect Loki, who was very busy strengthening the blizzard raging around her. The cold, as savage as it was against her body, was where she belonged. She belonged out here, in the cold, next to her master to keep him protected. Yet Clint failed, and if she let them get close enough her protection wouldn't do much to stop them. She was only one woman.

"Go."

Natasha looked at Loki, skeptical and hesitant to leave his side, but his eyes stared down at her and nodded, "Go. Keep them away."

Natasha nodded, turning on her heels and made her way inside. The warm air made her momentarily lightheaded and everything was tinted green for a mere moments. She felt uncomfortably hot after the cold she had just been exposed to. But the feeling was shoved aside and she stood in the living room, searching for the best place to hide and wait for the other Avengers. She hummed, eyes traveling to the vents where her archer usually took inhabitance and, seeing that it was still very close to Loki, moved out of the room and into the hallway. She had no real way of locking the door, and stood in front of it, waiting and listening for the sound of footsteps.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

They were all staring at Clint with mixed expressions, trying to look supportive and concerned but incapable of hiding the uncertainty. They didn't have much faith in Clint in bring able to handle the Black Widow while they took shots at Loki. Sure, Clint had been helpful disengaging the other enhanced humans roaming the tower, either freely or against their will, but none were up to par with the Black Widow. She had knocked Clint out before the Battle of New York, on the damaged Helicarrier. Who's to say she won't manage that again at the Tower?

"Yes," Clint hissed, the sentence coming out between clenched teeth. Him and Natasha were practically even matched, he had a better shot than any of these guys did. After all, it took three of them to take him down.

"Just be careful," Steve says, "And-"

"I won't need help Cap, I got this," But his eyes landed on Hill, who was leaning back against the wall with a small pyramid of ammunition and a loaded gun. She was too injured to continue forward, with her not busted and having been spewing blood and her ribs most likely badly fractured if not broken. They couldn't run her back to her room incase more enhanced people were there, or the ones taken out had awoken. It wasn't ideal to leave her here but it needed to be done. They needed as many hands on deck for this. Calmly, Hill was staring at the archer.

"You cannot hesitate Barton, do you understand me?" This was a tone they were all unfamiliar with, save Steve and Clint. It was her deputy director voice, her commander voice when giving a serious, game changing, order. The voice she used during the entirety of the Battle of New York, "She will kill you. She is a Black Widow and Black Widows kill."

"A Black widow?" Tony questioned but went ignored.

"You might need to kill her if that's what it takes Barton."

Clint's face was unreadable, blank and hard like a sheet of rock. He didn't say anything to them, glancing back down the hall and then turned. He made his way down the hall and slowly, the other avengers crept along behind him as best they could, for it wasn't easy to muffle Hulk's footsteps. The green giant grunted impatiently as the slow progress they were making. Clint had disappeared in front of them, but it didn't take them long to spot the open air grate big enough for him to go through and they waited silently.

* * *

She heard him coming, heard the rustling movement he was purposefully making in the vents to draw her attention upwards. Like a fool, she fell into his little ruse and saw his eyes staring down at her through the vent covered. They were the same blue as hers, they were stormy and angry and she moved away from beneath him as an arrow flew out. It hit the ground where she was just standing, buried into it by an inch, and started to beep loudly.

Plumes of thick smoke burst from the arrowhead, rising high in the air. For a few moments neither of the assassins could see much, but Clint used this opportunity to drop down with an arrow at the ready. He scanned the area, searching for a speck of vibrant red or leather black without making the slightest of noises.

He saw a flicker of red, and brought the bowstring back a little farther, trying to follow and predict the direction she was heading in. He let the arrow fly through the thinning smoke, body tensed as if he was a now string drawn tight and taunt. He didn't hear anything, not a grimace or moan of pain or a thud as it hit the wall. Clint frowns, something cold passing over him. It was like an ice cube was slipped down his spine, what if his shot was too good? What if he-

Something flew out of the fog, slim and narrow and sharp to the point. His arrow. Clint moved out of the way, spinning on his heels and searching for Natasha. He saw her, the smoke a thin, hazy barrier between them that was quickly disappearing. He heard the arrow hit the wall behind him, and saw her swiftly approaching. With her entire upper body hunched forward, she moved with the speed of a jaguar and the power of a rhino. His bow fell from his hands, his hands clasping around her wrists. He forced her right hand up, above both their heads and her left hand down, as close to her thigh as possible. There was only an inch or two of space between them, Natasha struggling to get out of his grip and stab him with the knife in her left hand. Clint held her back though as best he could, so close to her he could see his image reflecting in her eyes. Her skin was ice cold beneath his calloused hands and she was pale from the cold. There were goosebumps along her skin, he could feel and see them on her.

Natasha struggled, unable to move her arms any further in his iron grip. Her right knee flew upwards and connected to his lower abdomen:once, twice, three times. Each hit earned a slight grunt from the archer restraining her, the blunt pain an extreme discomfort. At the third blow, he recoiled forward just slightly and Natasha wrapped her legs around his waist. She threw her weight back, and they both went tumbling onto the ground. Natasha landed on her back, Clint releasing her so he could brace his fall with his hands. She kicked him up as she landed safely, so he wouldn't fall right on top of her and Clint went somersaulting back behind her, waist dulling aching from her kick. She was already rolling to her feet, knife passing from hand to hand until it landed in her right hand. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him and his were on the knife in her hand. There was a bit of déjà vu in the moment, but he couldn't quite place it.

* * *

"What the hell are they doing?" Tony hissed, watching the stalemate between Natasha and Clint. The two of them were just standing there, tense and bouncing on their heels, Natasha the only one of them visibly armed.

Steve shrugged, shuffling from foot to foot uncomfortably. Clint needed to get her away from the door so she didn't shoot any of them on the spot with her gun, but he clearly couldn't get anywhere without being very mindful of that knife. Clint couldn't lunge without risking it digging into his flesh, he was on a constant defense so he didn't die. He understood the caution, but they were running out of time, the storm was getting worse and worse.

Tony scowled, "Looks like the Hawk needs a little help," Tony raised a gloved hand upwards, aimed at Natasha. Steve quickly took hold of the man's wrist before he interfered, lowering it so it faced the ground. It took most of his strength and he hissed lowly, beneath his breath, "No. We need to trust Clint."

Thor nodded in agreement, too fearful to speak and draw Natasha's attention towards them. He was loud, not dumb. And then, very suddenly, when none of them was looking, the two assassins were at each other's throats again. Natasha had her arm twisted behind her back, the knife being pried from her hands. In retaliation, Natasha swung her elbow backwards into Clint's face and freed herself from his grip. Though without her knife. She spun on her heels, the two of them practically pressed together, swinging her knee into his side. Clint caught it, dropping the knife between them in the little space there was, and threw her sideways into the ground. He was directing her further away from the door, pinning her down to the ground.

"Come on!" Steve whispered and hurried towards the door. The others followed, the door shoved open without a second thought or glance towards the assassins.

* * *

She struggled beneath Clint, her limps pinned the floor beneath his strong, sturdy frame. Seeing that there was no way to gain ain't leverage, she stared up at him and took in his appearance. His eyes were that stormy color again and he was looking at her with a hint of guilt and reluctance. He hid it very well but she knew exactly where to look for the chinks in his armor. His face is close, a trickle of hot air hitting her on her nose. She tries to swing her legs up but he anticipated it when he shoved her to the ground. They're trapped under his weight. She can't move, can't escape by brute force and vicious fighting alone.

Her expression softens and her struggling weakens beneath his grip. She stared at him with wide eyes, portraying confusion she did actually feel for the situation. Why was he fighting her? He was compromised, yes, but why is he fighting her? What did they do? Why didn't they just kill him? She sees his own expression soften and he flattens his lips tightly together to prevent saying her name. His grip loosens slightly around her wrists and it's just what she needs. She pulls her arms out the right hand making a break through. As his grip tightens around her left hand and reaches to recapture the other arm, her hand is at his throat. It's not much, giving it's one hand, but her nails dog into his skin and her grip makes it difficult to breath. His face is going red, gradually, and he let's go of her other hand. She forces herself upward, but her upper body is restricted by his weight and she she twists her hips. The motion is fast, requiring concise speed and flexibility, but it flips them over. As he lands on his back, she's rolling to her feet. Her foots drawn back, aimed at his throat, but he latches on to her ankle and twists. She opens her mouth for a soundless howl of pain, hearing something pop and feels fire stretch across her nerves. He yanks on her leg and she loses her balance, falling backwards onto her butt. Disoriented for a minor second, she suddenly sees him on his feet and claiming the knife she dropped.

He sees her get back to her feet, favoring her right leg, and spins the knife around in his hands. It's smaller than he prefers for a fight, but it's better in his hands than hers. He runs at her, swinging his right leg out to sweep her in the lower abdomen. Her right hand finds the food and deflects it without a second thought, feeling the soles of his shoes brush uncomfortably against her stomach, and swings her left elbow into it face. His head snaps to the side for a moment, and his left eye overcome with nerve tearing pain, as if someone was stabbing the optical nerve with a thumb tack. Blindly, he swipes at her with the knife and a line of red appeared on the side of her right palm as she blocks it. Part of her sleeve is cut through, a red little line a mark that the knife had been there. She was cut but not bleeding, for it was too shallow. Natasha doesn't react, swinging her left knee and catching him in the hip. The move catches him by surprise, and the dull discomfort that follows echoes like a hollow clang through the entire bone. Her knee comes back, catching him much closer to the groin and he recoils forward, knees shaking. His next breath is more like a gasp, and his eyes spy the ankle he had dislocated. Immediately, be brings back his foot and kicks her with unbridled strength in the sensitive, injured appendage.

A pained scream bursts through the air, her leg gives out from under her and she's suddenly on her knees. Clint flinches at how painful it sounded not expecting it to be that loud. But her tesseract blue eyes are gazing up at him, and he saw she was gathering her strength. He knew she was gathering her strength again. They locked eyes for a moment, her gaze was emotionless and his was trying to restrain everything going through him. He was shaken and angry and worried for her, and he almost didn't want to do this because then it would bring her into the same boat he was currently floating adrift in, he didn't want to bring anymore suffering crashing down on her. But he also couldn't let her go on any longer like this.

Their gaze was connected for a few moments longer before he swung his heavily booted foot right into the side of her head, sending her crumpling into darkness onto the ground.

* * *

**Looking for ideas on a new Avengers fanfic. Given that this almost done. I could do a de-aging story for the Avengers, though I'm not sure how I would do that. I don't know who would be the remaining, adult Avenger taking care of everyone. ****Maybe Steve. It be interesting and easy to explain why he wasn't in the tower. Maybe Wanda and Pietro. But how would I explain Vision's absence? Sam and Rhodey are easy because they have other priorities like their jobs. Maybe Vision went looking for Bruce? Or Vision never happened. Maybe Steve and Clint, so Clint can help Steve understand Natasha when she goes spouting Russian. Of course, maybe Vision could be helpful for that with the twins. Hm...**

**Or maybe another revenge fic but with Ultron instead. Though, not rather crazy about it now that I think of just how to do it. And so many characters... Forget I said anything about this one.**

**Then there's an agents of shield one I came up with, AU ending to Parting Shot. Malick got to the prison(?) they were holding Hunter and Bobbi in at the end before Coulson and President Ellis. He's a smooth talker it seems reasonable, he brings them back to Hydra... Shit happens. Not totally thought through but... It be interesting.**

**Well, end of this chapter. I wonder what's happening with Loki. And the snow storm. Please review!**


	23. The Battle's End

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Three: The Battle's End

A blur of thick, large, white flakes swept across the balcony and practically concealed Loki behind their wet, cold curtain. The cold was seeping in through the closed glass doorway and for a brief moment Steve felt an uncomfortable tremble accompany the shiver of goosebumps rising up along his skin. Thor scowled, and stepped forward from the company of the other three Avengers and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"LOKI!" It rattled the glass, "SEIZE THIS AT ONCE!"

In his anger, Thor flung the hammer. It smashed through the glass, allowing a rattling gust of cold snowy air to sweep around them. It flew, wind whistling sharply around the hammer head. It was three meters from Loki, two meters, three inches, and... It flew right through him and out of sight into the storm. The green form of Loki flickered in a gold light then disappeared. Thor's face went slack as he realized what happened, mouth falling open.

"Did you really fall for it?" A high, cold laugh echoed, a scraping clang echoing through the silence. Iron Man found himself holding his arm up, the blade of Loki's staff grinding and scraping against the painted metal. Holding it's long handle, Loki's lean form was pressing it forward, trying to pierce the armor. Sitting stop his head was his gold helmet, the gold points curled and sharp. He wore the same green, gold, and black armor as during the Battle of New York, though a bit thicker. The god had learned his lesson the last time he fought them that more protection was better. Everyone else had backed away from shock, taken aback by his sudden appearance.

Hulk was the first one to recover, his eyes locked on the smaller form and he charged like a bull seeing red. Hulk took two steps forward, swinging his right arm down onto him. Loki's eyes shot upward, widening at the sight of a green arm, as thick around as a tree trunk, descending down onto him. For a second, the frost giant was frozen in place as death began to approach him but then his reflexes kicked in. The blade flew upwards, leaving a rather nasty scratch on the armor, and disappeared through Hulk's rough skin. Yet, as Hulk withdrew his arm and gave a bellowing roar of pain, the scepter was taken right from his hands. Seeing Loki was now unarmed, Cap lunched forward and swung his shield into his face. When it was an inch away from hitting Loki right in his mouth, an inch from busting his lips, he caught the edge of it and pushed Steve's arm back the way it went with 3/4 his strength. Steve heard a distinct pop as his arm flew back, pain billowing in his shoulder.

The super soldier stumbled backwards, taken aback. He saw Hulk waving his arm around, trying to dislodge the weapon that had cut into his usual remarkably impenetrable skin. There was blood along the Hulk's arm and wrist, a sight that Cap had never seen before. Thor's arm was extended outward to the shattered glass door, hand opened and ready to receive the mystical hammer. As the Asgardian Prince waited, Tony held his hands up shot at Loki, two brilliant blue beams shooting from his palms. Loki dodged one but the other hit him squarely on the chest. It sent him backwards, not far, but a few feet back and very dazed. It created a long enough delay for the hammer to enter Thor's hand, and the moment his hand closed around the handle he swung it towards his adopted brother.

* * *

There was a shock of cold tingling across her limbs, almost numbing her hands and feet. Everything beneath her felt as though it was gently rocking, like a crib or boat over calm water, and nothing made sense. The darkness around her didn't make sense, more did the cold. She couldn't fathom what this hard surface beneath her was and why it was so smooth. It felt cold but also comparatively warmer to the cold racing up and down her goosebump laden skin.

An image of Clint came to the forefront of her consciousness, aiming his bow and arrow downward in what she believed to be a private library study. There were books on the ground, and she saw someone, collapsed on the ground with their back to her. She couldn't tell who they were though, he was blurry, and Clint's image just grew sharper and sharper. He fired the arrow and then the memory flittered away like a delicate fairy. It occurred to her that the darkness was not really darkness but her eyes closed. With this realization came with a sensation akin to slowly awakening. That groggy feeling which slowly dissipated over time as you came closer and closer to fully awakening.

_"What do you think Agent Romanov?"_

That horrible sneer reared itself next, the image so realistic she thought he was standing in front of her. His malicious glinting eyes, shiny black hair that Natasha couldn't determine from greasy or greased with hair gel. His taunting sneer as he revealed his teeth to her. The cold sensation strengthened across her body and then evaporated as the image faded into the darkness. A pounding in her head, which had always been there but gone unnoticed, became the center of her attention as memories swarmed in and out of recollection. Manipulating Steve. Hacking JARVIS. Loki.

She dared to open her eyes and see the damage she created, everything was heightened and blurred at the same time. Only the finest details were notable, sharp and distinguishable to her eyes while everything else was blurry. The first thing she noticed was Clint's stormy heur eyes, staring down at her. His expression, his hair, his ears, those were blurry and indiscernible. She closed her eyes for a moment, the pounding turned sharp within her skull and she pressed a hand against her eyes in an attempt to block out anything making it worse. She felt his calloused fingers pressing down on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

"We're gonna be ok Nat."

"Is that what you know?" For a brief moment she saw him, laying restraint and slightly upright in a S.H.I.E.L.D. bed, wrists tied down and struggling as he tried to make sense of everything and collect himself. She was sitting across from him, reassuring him that he'd be ok. Isn't this what he snapped at her? She could clearly remember his tense posture, a few veins bulging along his muscular arms.

He didn't answer her, and when she removed her hand from her face, her green orbs stared up onto his face. He was himself and she was herself, they were themselves and no longer puppets. She didn't try to place a mask on, an emotionless facade reserved only for the heat of a fight to keep herself calm and rational. She felt sick.

Helping her sit up, Clint leaned her against the wall and stared at the tender bruise forming in the shape of his foot where he kicked her. It distorted the usually flawless skin along the entire side of her face and head, and he was hesitant to trace it with his finger. They looked at each other, unable to build up their shields and grateful that they were alone. They knew that they wouldn't be for long, that they'd need to get up and join the fight against Loki. But they were alone and free to display all vulnerability, all weakness, all doubts, and fear to one another without anyone taking advantage of it.

* * *

Thor threw his half brother into the wall and held him there, the hammer poised to be swung from above his head. His fist held a bundle of Loki's attire, crumpling and wrinkling it, and for a moment Loki stared at Thor with a brief flicker of fear. Thor struggled to not let his guard down, for though he still loved his brother he knew Loki would manipulate him. He couldn't afford that to happen today, not again.

"Honestly Thor," Loki glared at the weapon as he spoke, "If you smash my face in, that won't get rid of New York's storm."

Thor frowns, eyes drifting to the windows, unable to see anything beyond a white curtain of thick, freezing flakes. He thought of Johtunheim, home to frost giants, and it's horrid freezing weather. He feared that no mortal would survive it and knew that Loki was the only one who could reverse it. Yet his threat, his taunt made an irrational ball of anger bubble like magma in him and he removed him off the wall. His hammer went swinging, smashing into his brother's right shoulder with a loud crack.

Loki gave a yowl of pain and was suddenly grasping Thor's wrist with one hand. His hands turned blue and a burning cold spread across the exposed skin. Thor threw him back with a cry of pain, right towards the other Avengers. Steve was leaning back on the wall slowed down by his injuries with the altercation with Clint, and watched as Hulk took hold of Loki for stabbing him. He seized the god by his newly shattered shoulder and threw him like stuffed animal under the care of a vicious child against the walls. Loki hit it twice, but on the third time he braced himself with his feet against the wall and twisted himself from the large hands of the green giant. It was not easy and rather painful for his shoulder, but he managed to do it and lunged for his scepter. As his hands closed around the shaft, something hard crashed into his temple. He looked up, glaring, to see Steve still in the position of having thrown his shield.

Loki growled and pointed, sending a jolt of energy flying right out of the end. It collided, not at Steve's chest, but the metal barrier that leapt between the two. Tony held his palm up, a glowing blue circle contrasting sharply with the red metal. There was a significant dent where Loki's attack had struck him.

"You shouldn't have done that Loki," Tony growled from behind the faceplate, "Stop the storm before you make this worse for yourself."

"I don't catch your meaning," Loki responded, his scepter still in hand. But he was becoming very aware that he was surrounded. His back was to a wall, his brother and a hulking green monster stood on either side of him and in front of him, the point of the triangle, was Iron Man.

If he knew the smart decision, he'd surrender. He'd undo what he did and he'd come quietly with his hands up. But he had no plans to to repeat the Battle of New York, when an arrow was pointed inches from his face. Yet this was hardly any better than that scenario. Loki could surrender, or he could continue to fight. The stubborn bastard in him told him to keep fighting but the smart, reasonable man who dwelled in his head and helped him strategize and be realistic was begging him to drop the scepter. All this work though, for him to chicken out in the very end and surrender when there was so much he could still do.

"Loki," Steve spoke from behind Tony, "You know fighting is a bad idea. You know it's a horrible idea."

The Captain is right. He didn't want to go down again like in New York but standing here and fighting was a bad idea. The scepter clattered to the ground and suddenly they watched as he raised his hands in swirling motions. Norse words fell from his lips and as he did this, they saw his image becoming more and more transparent, as though he were a very colorful ghost facing from visibility. Thor gave a cry and lunged forward, but as he swung his hand to swipe at his brother, it went right through and Loki was gone. And outside, the biting cold was starting to subside. The snow had stopped, the dark clouds that were nearly black began to turn light grey, and then white.

* * *

**It didn't seem right for Loki to get captured and he wouldn't willingly back down after 23 chapters. No... He took an alternative route, fixed the weather and teleported. He did it with a bit of pizazz and the idea was that their attention would turn from hunting him down to stop the snow, to the people he left behind in the tower. Does that make sense? **

**Please review, follow, or favorite. :D**


	24. The Aftermath

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, I do not own the Avengers. If I did, then we would all know the answer to what really happened in Budapest and there's be a Strike Team: Delta Movie. I was inspired by two fanfics Loki Must Die and Frozen Web, specifically a small scene in Loki Must Die. I've seen this movie about ten times (this year so far, I may be wrong I've lost count honestly), hopefully I have a better idea at what I'm doing. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four: The Aftermath

There was an old familiar sensation traveling around abdomen, a sensation Clint could only describe as his insides twisting and curling into nervous knots. It was a feeling the archer had not felt in a long time, not since when he was a small boy and was sitting in the Principals office or in the office of his social worker because a foster family had once again failed to work out. Except, Clint thought this was ten times worse than any of those guilty moments in his childhood.

The judging eyes of their teammates burned their stoic exteriors and he felt Natasha squeeze his left hand tightly. Her own gaze was on the edge of the table, her entire body tense. The guilt and realization of what happened was making her feel sick, and she felt an incurable rush of anger whenever she thought about it. Clint tore his gaze upwards, across the long table towards the four figures participating on the tense silence. Two of them were sitting and the other two were standing, all sporting their exhaustion and injuries in different ways.

"How's Hill?" Clint asked weakly, remembering how battered the woman looked. They threw her under the bus.

"She's resting comfortably, I had to slip her some painkillers. I believe she's asleep," Bruce answered, compassionately. He took a tablet, pressed a few key words in and slid it over to the two assassins. They saw live footage of Maria Hill sleeping in bed, her nose bandaged up. The two looked relieved to see her resting.

But then the awkward silence had returned, and it was after a few agonizing seconds did Steve finally bring up the topic that was on everyone's mind.

"Coulson's alive," The other Avengers were tense and staring at the two as if they'd been stabbed in the backs. Natasha didn't look up, because this had been her least favorite secret to keep, "And you were on a mission to kill that German official, framing Hydra..."

"For the record," Clint interrupted, "He was Hydra. We were using the organization to cover our tracks. But Loki got there first and killed him. Him and his guards and was waiting for us."

"That's where he took control of you both," Thor jumped in with his deep voice. He was very concerned with their mental states, they looked jumpy and downtrodden. Thor didn't blame them for their actions.

"We told him everything he thought would be useful. Coulson, the Index. Anything to get a rile out of you all and turn you against one another."

"We sold out Coulson and Hill," Natasha muttered, angry with herself for allowing that to happen. But then again, did she really have a choice? It wasn't like they stood in front of Loki and volunteered to be controlled by him.

"We were going to find out anyways," Tony said offhandedly, "Plus, it's not like you knew he was alive the entire time. Hill told us you both only found out after Hydra came out."

Natasha scowled, her jaw tense. Clint stared at them with dead eyes, a silent ticking time bomb was reaching it's combustion time to the knowledge of no one in the room. Tempers started to burn within the two like a wildfire and Steve caught the expressions glistening in their eyes. Still, none of them had quite expected the two to be beating themselves up this badly. Of course, how could they? What did they know about being mind controlled?

"Oh don't give us that," Tony rolled his eyes and the three around him stared at him with shock. He ignored it, staring straight at Natasha and Clint, "You both aren't the type to have pity parties. You lock everything in and work it out yourselves without us ever knowing. If that's what you wanna do fine but you can't just keep us out of the loop anymore. We're a team and we care about you, after this we aren't going to hear you go beating yourselves up alright? If you guys need a break or some vacation sure but you can't keep this buried between yourselves. You need to let us in and trust us, because we barely know you."

"You think that would have changed anything?" Natasha frowns.

"We probably would have caught on a lot sooner," Steve joined in, staring at them. Then he stood and turned to leave the room. There was nothing left to say.

* * *

Something was off, Steve knew something was off the moment he returned from his run. There was the lingering scent of smoke and it was still very acrid to his unprepared nose. It only got stronger as he continued through the hallway and he realized that it was coming from the same place he was heading. The kitchen.

As he rounded the corner, Steve snatched a fire extinguisher from it's concealed but easily retrievable home and quickened his pace. As the kitchen doors slid open, he expected to see nothing but orange and red and feel a horribly uncomfortable burst of heat as the flames tried to devour him. He had gripped the fire extinguisher tightly and a small spray of foam flew through the air and hit the tiles. There was still that acrid aroma but, instead of flames, Bruce, Thor, and Tony, sat at the island counter and stared at him.

There was no fire despite the very off putting scent in the air. Steve blinked, feeling embarrassed but refrained from blushing, "What the-"

"Spidey and Legolas," Tony explained, "They were trying to make breakfast. But somewhere along the lines, they got... distracted... And nearly started a fire."

"What do you mean by distracted?" Steve asked worriedly, afraid they had a meltdown or some sort of flashback that he wouldn't be able to understand as much as he wanted to. Were they ok?

"They were arguing over whether to make bacon or sausage links, and how we would want our eggs," Bruce explained, "Woke us all up."

"Where are they?" Steve glanced around.

"Not exactly sure, when making breakfast failed they decided to run out and bring some home. We have been instructed, threatened actually, to stay here and wait for you."

"Threatened," Steve nodded, "At least no one was hurt while I was gone."

Steve went to take a seat besides Thor and Bruce, and the moment the words left his mouth, he knew he had spoken too soon. He heard two sets of footsteps and heard Natasha start to speak.

"Breakfast," Natasha set a brown paper bag down before them and started to take out everything inside of it. Steve blinked as he saw stacks and stacks of fluffy, delicious pancakes. Some had whip cream, some had butter, he saw butter in little packets and syrup too. Clint set down two other bags and pulled out some pancakes as well, as well as bacon and sausages. Steve even saw some hash browns.

"Where did you get all of this?"

"Diner," Clint answered, "I think we got enough food."

"Barely," Natasha murmured, doubting that they had enough to match Thor's near bottomless appetite.

"Why are you doing this?" Everyone turned to look at Steve, Natasha and Clint's expressions shutting out on the others. But that was exactly what the others were thinking. For the past three weeks they hardly saw the two assassins and when they did it was only for a second. Then all of a sudden, Thor, Tony, and Bruce, are awoken bright and early to the fire alarms and see that they were trying to cook up breakfast for the entire team. None of it added up.

Steve could see that neither of the assassins understood the question. That, or maybe they didn't understand how to answer. He silently sighed and spoke again, "You don't need to do this. You don't need to prove yourselves to us."

"Yes we do."

"No, you don't," Bruce cut in, "Nothing you did was in your control. You still have our trust. You don't need to do anything else to convince us that we can rely on you. You are our friends. All those enhanced from Index are back under protection, they all have what they deserve and need. Hill's recovering. What's there to still be upset about? Now come on, pass out breakfast and let's eat."

Natasha and Clint turned to look at each other, uneasy with the entire situation. They didn't seem convinced by any of their words and wanted so badly to protest, but knew that it wouldn't change anything. They had their space, they had time to think and begin accepting what happened, there was no point in arguing and ruining all that time. Natasha just nodded and started to slide the pancakes out.

"Dig in," Clint says as he moved to sit in one of the empty stools. Things would work out in the end, Clint was confident in that. Things are working out now.

* * *

**Last chapter. End of the story. Sorry. It's all over. **

**Keep seeing commercials for X-Men Apocalypse. It's bringing up my QuickSilver feels and it's reminding me a lot of the Inhumans. I understand they're different but I see parallels. I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit slow and disappointing. The ends are always bitter.**

**I do need an idea for another story. I have a couple, mostly de-aging Fics. Like Steve is the one who has to take care of everyone or- I don't really know. I gotta think about it. Or an AU where the avengers are kids. I'm still thinking it through. And then there was an idea for a Steve/Bucky fic where Hydra created a clone of Steve. Still thinking. Saw Civil War so that's giving me ideas and hope. **

**Thank you to everyone who followed, reviewed, and favorited this story it means a lot to me. I hope to see you again amongst my other stories.**


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